So, I got a call from the Obama people...

a few days ago. And that told me that my boy Edwards was out, he was done. I've only donated to one campaign in my life, and that was $40 to Edwards back in '04. The call from Obama's people told me Edwards had given his donor list to Obama's people, and they were beginning to make calls.

It's been a good 4 year run for my boy Edwards, hope he follows through on his poverty pledge.

And now...it's officially down to 2...

Starting to look a bit like McCain

With about 50% of the preceints reporting, McCain is holding a solid 40,000 votes and 3% lead. If he manages to hold on and win Florida, and Rudy who may be kicking his can and endorsing McCain (no one likes Romney at all) tomorrow...McCain is starting to look prohibitive.

Huckleberry is staying in the race according to his early comments tonight, which helps take votes away from Romney come Super Tuesday. This means McCain could be man to take the post. It's early, but the votes seems to be lining up.

If indeed, it is McCain, as previously noted, I hope Obama can hold on. I think Obama would crush McCain because he's looking ancient, and compared to Obama, he looks already fossilized. Clinton-McCain would be either an absolute blood bath or perhaps a cute, kissy-face campaign because they supposedly like each other. The best friends can become foes in politics, so I don't see that happening.

Note: Now McCain is up by 4% and over 52,000 votes with 54% reporting. Looking solid.

The end of Proposition Joe

Sunday night, on the most recent episode of the best show on tv, The Wire, a character's arch came to an end, and another's continues. My fave character on the show, and probably many people's fave character, Omar, the gay rogue gangster who is virtually on his own, is back!

In the gangster world of the tv version of Baltimore, the young Marlo Stansfield has made his last move. He's moved on the quiet, tho sneaky, Prop Joe who had survived for 4 seasons while others have gone by the wayside.

This season, the last, is focused on the effects of the inner city life on the newspaper industry. But, this fifth episode told what I hope to be the real end of the show and season is going to be about: Omar's return and yet another payback. It's possible the writers have made the determination that ultimately Omar will fall and the young Marlo, who has been knocking off competition like a mo-fo, will win out. If so, that will be sad, if not more realistic. But, I look forward to Omar coming at Marlo with all he has.

For the record, the show is infinitely more deep than I am making it sound. It's not all about killing, but is the culture provides a backdrop for the social message this show continues to display. It's not overly preachy, and it doesn't overtly say that X is the answer, the show is always about asking tough questions via
and seeing what the consequences are from a multitude of angles.

Again, the best drama, bar-none, on tv.

60 Minutes

I'm one of the few people under 100 years old who watches 60 Minutes every week they have something new (and of substance, stop with the damn athlete puff pieces). This week's interview of the FBI's interrogator of Saddham Hussein was fascinating.


No doubt on tomorrow morning's right-wing talk radio gamut they will feature the small section where the FBI interrogator says Hussein planned to eventually acquired WMD at some point in the future. But, the damning evidence against the Neo-Cons came heavy-handed and much earlier in that interview of the FBIer.

In his interview he said Saddham told him exactly what I thought he was thinking, and exactly what any rational mother fucker was thinking during the bogus run-up to the war: He had no WMD, he had destroyed it or gotten rid of them entirely.

Saddham didn't dare tell us this because, as was believed by many smart people (including me) who knew what they were talking about (perhaps not me), he couldn't. Saddham gambled. If he told us there were no WMD, which he did by the way, and then let weapons inspectors in to prove he didn't have any...one simple thing would have occoured: His regime would have been run-over like a bug by Iran. Saddham knew this would happen, but as was told to the FBI interrogator, he didn't believe the US would really invade. He figured it'd be another carpet air bombing, which he had weathered in the past and would weather again.

Saddham had no reason to tell us the truth and then show us the truth. He knew that Iran would find out and then proceed to run over his ass with a Mack Truck.

After all, if Iran invaded Iraq much like Iraq invaded Kuwait back in the 90s, would anyone have come to Iraq's defense the way they came to Kuwait's? Certainly not, especially the Americans who under Bush would have happily watched Saddham go down.

The saddest of all, we knew this tale was coming. How many more American's need to die for Bush's cock to be satisfied?

The case against the Big Hill

...may be mounting. In today's edition of the finest newspaper in all thee land, NY Times, the terrific Frank Rich highlights what could be a major problem with a Clinton nomination. I agree in his scenario where she'd have to face up against John McCain, she'd probably lose. A youthful, vibrant, viral Obama would make McCain seem even older than he is, and would be the best matchup in that case (no matter what the national polls say now) I don't like the McCain matchup with Hill one iota. But, if Romney pulls it out, I think she could slam dunk Romney's ass.

Obama, again, to me is a fantastic candidate. I love the idea of him getting the office. One of those my heart is for him, head and political brain is in favour of her. If the youth vote doesn't hold up again like it didn't in 2000 and 2004, Obama will not and cannot win.

Obama by 28%...hmmm...

He beat the Big Hill by 28 points, guess the black vote did indeed come out. Moreover, he hit my 20% mark of white voters. Impressive win, but it's still S. Carolina, which will be meaningless in the fall.

With the Pres. Clinton dust-up over race, it does make me think: Could it be possible that if Obama is the Presidential nominee, would he be inoculated by the right-wing spin machine and dirt devil machine of playing as dirty as they certainly will do and are ruthlessly good at? By him being the first serious black nominee for the Presidency, would any attack by the Repos have to be starkly less harsh than normal simply because any harsh attack would be met with the kind of blow back Clinton seems to have gotten in S. Carolina?

It's almost like the Andy Shepard presidency in the movie "The American President," who won his way into the White House because in the storyline his wife died during the campaign...causing him to not have to get into a "character debate."

S. Carolina primary night...a snoozer in the making?

It's roughly 10 mins. until the polls in S.C. "officially" close, but if what I am reading is right, that there's been a massive turnout of black voters in this primary, Big Hill is going to get royally hammered. I predict MSNBC, CNN, and the other media outlets call this primary in Obama's favour exactly 1 minute after those polls close. Thus, the big snoozer headline.

After attacking Obama, her losing the black vote was a slam-dunk no-brainer, but I urge you political pundits out there to pay close attention to the white vote.

What kind of percentage among white voters of ANY type in S. Carolina would Obama have to garner to make a good impression on his chances of winning in the fall in the south? The %age of white vote he gets, not the raw numbers, will be the number I am looking at.

I'm looking for a good 20-30%, which he will not get. No way, no how.

As I said about the Clinton's...

They play politics dirty, and nasty, and tough as nails. Their attack on Obama over Rezko is evidence of that.

I believe Obama did nothing wrong in this case as his hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, found during an extensive investigation. However, this is something that the Clinton's had to bring up and expose at this juncture. If they didn't, you can be sure the Republicans would and it's better to get it out now and see if Obama can survive. Same thing happened to Clinton back in 1991, the demons came out and he beat them all: Gennifer Flowers, Paula Corbin Jones, etc. By getting it out now and cleansing the wound, it inoculates Obama in the Presidential election should he be the nominee.

However, we are starting to see what I have continually said would happen. The white vote in S. Carolina is being split by Clinton and Edwards, but it is showing that the South will not vote for a black candidate. And this is in a Democratic primary!!!

I just can't buy Obama's overall electability simply because of the color of his skin. Sad, but I believe it's true.

Presidential Thoughts

Obama can beat McCain I believe. The stark contrast between old geezer, and young man full of energy and enthusiasm will be too much for McCain to bear. Moreover, the Repos don't like McCain and may stay home in good-sized numbers.

However, Obama cannot beat Romney, who while you may not like him, looks more and more Presidential. Romney has a massive campaign war chest, and the ability to self-fund his campaign. The only Dem who could match that money is Clinton, and the only one who could match the verbal logistics of Romney the candidate. Romney isn't quite this good, but he reminds of a very poor man's Clinton in his ability to dodge and explain away seemingly blatant contradictions. This will require an attack dog who will be able to match him in the debate arena, and I have yet to fully see enough from Obama to show he can do the job.

Obama strikes me as another John Kerry. A decent man who was not an exceptional debater; Out-foxed by the dumbledor Dubya. Romney could do the same thing to Obama. While neither are tested in the Presidential waters, I think Romney is the smoother, slicker, better debater who can score points more cleanly. And he could only be beat by Clinton who may not be very slick herself, but she's got skills, and moxey.

Finally, Romney won this latest Repo debate, in a slam-dunk.

A just realized dream...

I have finally managed to narrow it down. After scouring tons of hot babes, to decide who I'd want to shack up and settle down with, I have come to one simple conclusion: Alyssa Milano.

She's a monster LA Dodgers fan who loves baseball. I can see it now...hot sex...and a late night baseball game in the owners box, talking pitching mechanics, hitting stances, and general baseball game strategy. Hotness, indeed...oy.

Gimme some baseball dammnit!

NFL and their shitty overtime system

It's 5 after 10pm here in the east and the NFC Championship game just went into overtime. I abhor the NFL's OT system. It sucks in the regular season, and it's beyond a shitty way to decide a winner in the playoffs.

In the NFL, the OT is started by a coin toss, and the team who wins the toss wins the chance to either receive a kick and go on offense, or take the defensive position. The stats show that whomever wins the coin toss and takes the ball on offense first wins not a majority of the games. But, it's still a stupid way to decide a game, much less a playoff game when the regular season is a scant 16 games and there is no best of series.

It's just like the soccer morons who decide their winner of the freaking World Cup by a shootout. It's moronic. The NFL doesn't want to change their system for the regular season, fine. But, they must change it in the playoffs.

Sinister & Silent Voter Disenfranchisement

Everyone knows what voter disenfranchisement is, and knows what voter disenfranchisement looks like when it's so blatantly done, which many Dems have argued happened in 2000, and also in 2004. I'm not so sure about 2004, but clearly we all agree 2000 was stolen in more ways than one. I wrote a paper when I was in high school back in the late 90s calling for the abolition of the electoral college, so don't get me started...

However, there's a more sinister, a more silent type of voter disenfranchisement that goes on throughout the land. A type of voter disenfranchisement that adds to the reasons why Presidential election years should be federalized throughout the states, and fuck state's rights. For example: In rich counties in Ohio they have newer voting machines, which count more accurately, and also work faster allowing lines to be shorter. In the lower income counties, they have the older, crappy voting machines that are counting mistake-prone, are slower to work, and thus cause lines to be infinitely longer. Moreover, these poorer counties can’t afford as many machines as they need to keep lines down. So, while the rich counties may have 10 fancy, new machines, the poor counties would then have 5 slower, older, less accurate machines. This is the quiet type of voter disenfranchisement.

The quiet voter disenfranchisement that is not seen because blatant disenfranchisement still occurs today. For example, the current case from Indiana before the Supreme Court. Where the state of Indiana wants to require all voters to have a license or some shit like that. Poor people generally don't have cars, and thus don't have a reason to have a type of state-issued ID. Mark it down now though. The Court will vote with Indiana and will allow them to require some type of state ID to be shown at the polls. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote briefs for Bush in 2000 for Bush-vs-Gore, despite Bush trying to deny that Roberts had any connection to the fiasco.

Lewis Black is DA BOMB!

Oy! He's topical, and funny. Oh yeah, he kick major assage.

Mac is back?...and trends?

Of all the Repos I've feared in the 2008 Presidential election, it was McCain. I feared him running an insurgent 3rd party independent campaign back in 2004, which in retrospect, I wish he would have.

However, I always felt comfort that the Repos for some reason dislike McCain, and wouldn't put him in the spot for the nomination. Perhaps, they have seen the light?

On one hand, I like McCain and I am pulled for him because of the well-reported hatchet-job he took in S. Carolina back in 2000 by the Bush asshats. But, on the other, he's a well-liked pol amongst the body politic in America, and he is the singular candidate on that side who does well and even beats most any Democrat nominee.

During his acceptance speech tonight, he unsurprisingly noted that no Repo has won the Presidency without winning the S. Carolina primary. I happen to believe that's less a function of the good barometer S. Carolina's backwater bullshit of a state is, and more so of the springboard effect that winning S. Carolina does for the candidate when coming up on Super Tuesday. It builds an inevitability, and name branding, in the forefront of the first national primary day, where each candidate can't make visits in each state.

Yet, another trend to look at, however...no Senator has won the Presidency since who knows when. If this race comes down to Obama, or Hill versus McCain, that trend will be broken. So, perhaps Mitt has a chance yet. Super Tuesday will be interesting fo sho.

My man is T-O-A-S-T!

It's approx. 20 'til 7pm here in the eastern time zone, and my man Edwards has YET to ring up 400 freaking votes in the Nevada primary. Now, it is Nevada. And he may not have even shown up to campaign there, I'm guessing he skipped the state. But, you can't garner 400 votes in ANY Democratic primary contest, you're fucked.

I love Edwards, I love his populism, I love most of his issues/views (although I do hate his dumb ass mill worker story), but I'm afraid that despite his commitment to stay in the race to the convention, he may indeed become so irrelevant, as to be a colossal joke. I think he stays in a while, but WOW. This is embarrassing.

THAT's what a debate is supposed to be...

A good 30 minutes of solid, nuanced discussion/debate on the issue of Iraq was substantive, and really solid. This is what a debate should be. Debating serious points about hard topics. That was some of the greatest debate I've ever seen. That's the stuff that gets me going...

Hill's winning argument...in my view

Watching the Vegas debates live on MSNBC, and Hill just slam-dunked Obama in a subtle way:

Obama, when asked about his one biggest strength and weakness by Brian Williams, seemed to shrug off his weakness, which he identified as being unable to keep track of a piece of paper, unable to run an office. Hillary, in her response came back at him slyly, with what I have been arguing all along...she's the most ready to hit the ground running because she knows how to make Washington run from the bulpit, and be an effective office manager.

Now, in truth, anyone in politics worth their salt will note two points: 1. Bill Clinton ran a terrible office, and perhaps was an awful manager. 2. A strong Chief of Staff is essentially the Office Manager for the White House, not to mention his/her inner circle (a-la, Tobey, Josh, CJ Craig, and Sam Seaborn in the early years of the West Wing tv drama).

But, Bush fucked up shit soooo bad, we don't have time for someone to learn on the job. Hill's self-identified weakness (pushing to hard) is evident in her failure of making the Clinton health care plan of 1992 not work because she pushed too hard. But, again, I'd rather have someone who pushes too hard, as opposed to someone who is unable to push because they don't know how to play the Washington game.

Gerald Ford - the worst man and President ever?

I've always abhorred Ford and his dumbass self. I was not upset when the moron died, and I was sickened by the bullshit media kissing his dead ass during the state funeral.

First, Ford was one of the members of the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of JFK, who never admitted the lunacy of the magic bullet theory. In this one, swift move, he established himself as a jackass who wouldn't stand up when the shit stank.

Second, the other huge time Ford bailed when the shit stank, was the moronic pardon of Nixon. His reasoning, "to health the nation." When in fact, as Bob Woodward notes in his book "Shadow," this pardoning of Nixon and the sweeping under the rug mentality only hurt the Presidency and destroyed a nation's belief in politics, and thus participation, which has led to a downfall of public policy.

Single-handedly, Ford has been involved at an extraordinary high level to two gigantic events that began the demise of this countries belief in the political and governmental system, that has caused the sickness to invade the psyche of the body politic. These two events, the sweeping under the rug of two MONSTROSITIES of possible corruption/greed/evil at the highest levels of our young government, are the foundations of the plague on this country. It started way back in '63 when those three-five shots were fired and killed JFK.

We have reaped what we sewed, and Ford is a massive jackass for not being a real man and standing up for what was clearly balderdash. I hope maggots are feasting on your dying corpse Ford, and boy, must your great wife be so ashamed to have your name.

Why the dream of Obama is untenable

One reason I pseudo-support Hill is simply because I believe she can get shit done in Washington. She's been in a White House that took tons of heat, she's done good work in the Senate during her current tenure, working across party lines to get shit accomplished.

The dream the hope of Obama, much like my fave ex-President, JFK, is the large youth idea, of fresh idealism, the idea of bringing fresh blood is lovely: The idea that Obama in the office of the most powerful individual in the world, causing a great tectonic shift in the world view of the body politic. Changing the debate to get people to be less selfish, more giving, and more willing to do things they may not want to do, but are for the greater good.

These are all ideas I support, ideas I believe in, and ideas I love. However, the idea that sweeping change could be done in the type of environment that America has become: the less than 24 hour news cycle, the vulture-like quality that people have when one small mistake is made, and the constant scrutiny, not to mention the money.

JFK did all his reforming, all his big ideals were able to take hold in an environment where he had some cover, where Washington politics isn't seen on tv all day (I think C-Span is a wonderful thing, but I think it has irreparably harmed American politics).

Hillary knows more so than Obama how to get this shit done, how to really build consensus in this type of atmosphere. You can't make sweeping changes anymore, as much as Obama may want to do. The structure of Washington politics is no longer conducive to those big changes anymore, small incremental changes are the SAD truth as to how politics is done today.

My boy Edwards also falls partly in this case, like Obama. The only way to make serious sweeping change, I believe, is through the Supreme Court. And that is why this must be a knock-down, drag-out fight for the Democratic nomination. We've already lost so much on that damn court with Roberts & Alito being so young, we CANNOT afford to lose this next election. Ginsberg is on her last legs, Souter may be looking for an out. And, Kennedy is also getting up there. I think all three of them could go in the next 4 years if a Dem is elected, but I see at least 1 going no matter what (Ginsberg).

Obama is a sexy candidate with big, fantastic ideals/ideas. But, he realistically can't do what he's saying he will...

Gag me with the Pats

Being in New England, and being a self-identified Red Sox man whore (but not apologist)...I can see how the rest of the country must hate the Sox like we hated the MFY back in the 90s when they won World Series after World Series. And, I'm getting a taste of the gag-reflex...

The Patriots continue to roll in their undefeated season quest. And the hyperbole over here in New England is beyond stomach churning. As a non-Pats fan, it's brutal over here. I cannot wait for football to be over already. Last year, at least my Bears shocked me by weaseling their way into the SuperBowl.

I have respect for Brady, much like I have respect for Derek Jeter (eventho, I hate Jeter's guts). The man is shagging Gisele, and he's perhaps one of the top 5 QBs of all time. The guy is damn good, and he deserves all the love he gets. But, I just wish we could fast forward a few weeks and end this thing.

The big Hill comes back swingin'

As of this post, Hill is ahead by 5k votes in NH with over 60% of the count in. If she still loses this primary, she has come back swinging, and I hope she brings it. Go Hill!

The one Obama clearly would lose to...

John McCain has made a comeback of sorts, on this night of the New Hampshire primary. Even if McCain doesn't win tonight, and Romney looks toast, then McCain could be the one to take out I heart Huckabee. McCain and his national security experience would clean Obama's clock in a debate, and in a tough, long campaign.

I implore my boy Edwards to hold on....and Hillary, hold on. Make Obama really earn this thing. We cannot lose this election, the future of the Supreme Court rests upon it.

The media (NY Times) is failing to do their job...AGAIN!

Obama is a sexy candidate. He talks a good game about hope, working together...yadda, yadda, yadda. I like him, I would love to see him elected in '08.

BUT! He has not been sufficiently tested and challenged by the elite media class who is so ga-ga for a guy like Obama, they are shielding their brains from reason. Much like the media choked on the lead-up to the Iraq war by not asking serious questions and really making a push to make Dubya prove that this was necessary.

If Obama sews this up within the next month, the media will have done him a disservice. He will then be researched and asked tough questions by the big republican machine that has clearly proven to be better at scrounging up dirt and framing issues to make democrats look bad...Fox News may eat Obama for lunch.

Hillary is right, Obama has not been tested. He's spent his campaign largely speaking in fuzzy, warm lines not having to answer really tough questions. Not your typical campaign coverage for a political neophyte in Presidential politics. The NY Times and their ilk, are setting him up for a fall if he wins this early.

The Best Show in the History of TV

Drama, at least. I am a liberal, and was a huge fan of the West Wing. I watched NYPD Blue in it's prime and it was stellar good. Six Feet Under perhaps had the best final sequence for a drama in tv history. But, nothing in the history of television in drama has EVER been this good, nor this ignored by the body politic across America.

It's part of my continuing annoyance with American's. They are so wanting to escape their own shitty lives, they jump into fantasy land with hugging religion to give them "comfort" for the weak-minded. They start ignoring the events around the world because they don't like what they see and it "doesn't feel good." So, they watch American Idol, they watch the Soprano's, Lost, and other shows that let them escape into a false world.

The Wire, on HBO is starting it's final 5th season tonight, and it is a gritty, hard, show to watch that not only attacks you and you pre-conceptions, it makes you think, and stand up and take noptice of the shit that people wish to ignore within the inner cities of our country. American's want to ignore the conditions poor black American kids are growing up in, and they don't care.

Do yourself a favor, find a way to watch the Wire, at least 1 of the seasons (though season 2 I wouldn't recommend). It's the best story, the truest story and the most humbling story of what is happening to the next generation of children. This is more reality tv, than ANY of the so-called "reality tv shows."

I call BS

I'm always dubious about polls. This is one of the times my dubiousness may have some foundation to it. A new poll says 92% of American's consider themselves "happy." I call bullshit on that poll. There's no way they consider themselves happy.

First, the poll was conducted during the farking holidays. That alone disqualifies the damn thing.

Second, most people are not going to tell a stranger calling them their lives are shitty, shitty, shitty.

The poll is not only dubious, however, it's also moronic. It shows the sheer selfishness of the American body politic, who is so self-obsessed that all they give a damn about is themselves to define their happiness. How about looking at world, look at what is happening in Iraq/Pakistan/Afghanistan. More of a reason to disbelieve this poll. Millions of people are over in Iraq, or know someone close who is, and they still claim themselves to be "happy." PLEASE! GO FUCK YOURSELF. Happy fuck-New Year!

On not liking people

The odd effect of telling someone that you don’t like people, in general. Most people, when told this, are absolutely flummoxed, in shock and immediately assume one is depressed, or has a neurological disorder. This in and of itself, really isn’t that shocking to me, but I’ve starting seeing someone in my life who doesn’t like people start to medicate via drugs and seeing a shrink of sorts who proscribes them for said individual. I have nothing against the head shrinker, I have seen one myself for a good chunk of my young life, and I’m considering finding someone else after having moved out to my current local 3+ years ago and not finding someone else to replace the old shrinker that I saw usually every 3-2 weeks. My concern is not that this person in my life is seeking help, I think we can all agree that’s a damn good thing, certainly much better than doing something extremely rash…however, I wonder if the number of people who see themselves as “depressed” are actually loners, and people who don’t like people and can’t get themselves to accept that fact and thus think they are depressed, when it’s something else entirely. I know for years I thought/sorta knew I was depressed as such, and I think I truly was for a while, however, I don’t know how/when this happened, but out of that (perhaps by reading and article I remember reading and having a fucking light turn on saying “that’s me, damnit!”) came some realization that I indeed generally don’t like people.

This line that Jack Nicholson’s character Melvin says in the movie As Good As It Gets, when I saw/heard it, totally resonated with me: “What if this is as good as it gets?” And later on when he’s struggling to identify and then deal with his feelings for the lovely Helen Hunt, he laments that his life as he knew it, where he lived alone, did his own thing, was better than the agony of not knowing if someone likes/loves you, Eventually Melvin comes around, saying to Kinnear that he made a good point about his old life, asking “Was it really that good?”, Melvin concedes that his life wasn’t better before hand. But, the whole point is to say, who says we have to be chatty.

Moreover, if I choose never to get married, where is my time off for having my non-existent baby? Where’s my tax benefits for not getting into a marriage that would have been a heaping pile of shit? There are a whole host of “benefits” that married people, especially with kids, get in return. I’m not saying that us who CHOOSE to be single should get them all, but gimme a piece mother fucker, gimme a piece (Kudos, to Chris Rock)!!