Black On Barack Racism

Barack The Glass Walls, Ceilings, Smash 'Em

If one of Barack's white political opponents were to say Barack is too black or not black enough to be president, I would not lose a split second before labeling that opponent racist. Racism is like radioactivity or the summer temperature, it can be measured. And I intend to measure.

And I am not going to spare Barack's black folks, or my fellow Indian folks. If you are talking s___t, you are talking s___t. You are not going to get a pass from me just because you are black or Indian.

Race should not matter, race should not be used against you, should not matter that you are black, or white, or biracial.

MLK was not able to take blacks to the promised land, Jesse tried and failed, Sharpton was a joke. Barack is about to take black folks to the promised land. And so the black folks need to step up to the challenge. They are not going to vote for him in South Carolina because he won in Iowa and New Hampshire. They are going to have to support him in large numbers in South Carolina before he takes his decisive leads in Iowa and New Hampshire, as he shows every sign of doing. Black folks are going to get behind Barack right about now.

If not, Barack is still going to be president, but the black people are going to get left behind. Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto were strong, smart women whose elevation to national power did not substantially improve the lot of women in India and Pakistan.

Barack is black America's chance to attempt and achieve parity. But for that to happen black America is going to have to step up to the plate. Nothing stands between Barack and black America, but black America does have to wake up. Black community leaders across the country are going to have to wake up and ride this wave. There might not be a second chance for decades.

What Was Wrong With That Memo Again?

There Is An Albert Einstein On The Obama Campaign Staff

Forgive me, but I never read that memo. I just read about it in the media. And not even the exaggerations offended me. And I am Indian. I am more Indian than the Indians because I am half Indian having to partly grow in Nepal's capital city where anti-Indian is how Nepali nationalism gets defined. I have the scars to show for being Indian, you perhaps don't.

Barack's paternal grandfather was a house servant to the British. He was called "boy." The Indians colonized India. Why can't the Indian community in America see that? Are they expecting some Abraham Lincoln or Mahatma Gandhi to show up again to help them get rid of their mental slavery? With their fancy academic degrees and fancy income brackets, can't these Indians in America do it on their own? Why can't they do it on their own?

Why can't black folks see it is a big deal that a black dude is going to be President of the United States? There is not a more powerful political office on the planet. A more powerful political office has not been created in the history of humanity. If to be slave and segregated is lack of power, holding the White House is the other end of the spectrum. If you hate powerlessness, why don't you love power? Stop being a hypocrite. Start making sense. Support Barack with a vengeance.

Barack offers the opportunity for India to emerge as America's number one global partner. India stands to displace Britain. China stands to do so economically, India stands to do so politically. India can spread democracy in the Arab countries the way America can not or can not alone, thats' why. It is a security priority for America to see in India its number one global partner because the only way to conclude the War On Terror is to turn every single Arab country into democracies and you do that by igniting local democracy movements. The Indian Muslims who are the grassroots soldiers of the largest, most vibrant democracy on the planet can help.

The top Indians in America need to stop donating to Hillary and start donating to Obama. You do it out of anger for your colonial history. You do it because racism still exists today and although you are making more money than any other ethnic group in America, you are not doing as well as you should. You do it because you owe it to the black people who were also wronged, and are still wronged today. You do it because there are plenty of white folks who think it is about time a black man became president because he is the most qualified.

You do it because you are Blac, and Obama is Blac, as in Black, Latino, Asian Caucus.

You do it for Africa. President Obama is going to be the best piece of news Africa ever had.

Barack: Too Young, Too Dynamic, Too Good To Be True

It is possible for a slice of pizza to be too good.

It is possible for the weather to get too nice.

It is possible for New York City to get too sexy.

Words Mean Things

I wish that were true of Chris Dodd's words.

Think Big, Think Different

Hillary accuses Barack of thinking "big."

Apple thinks "different."

In The News

Obama Invading Hil Country For Fundraiser In Brooklyn NY Daily News Who says New York City is Hillary Clinton's town? ..... the Illinois senator plans to fight hard for votes in the former First Lady's state. .... The $25-per-person fund-raiser will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.
Karl Rove's Leaving Legacy TIME Karl Rove is the most famous, and infamous, political strategist in American history. ...... Rove didn't seem like such a genius then — and even less so after Jim Jeffords quit the Republican Party in mid-2001, thereby swinging control of the Senate back to the Democrats. But then came 9/11, and in the fall of 2002, Rove helped engineer a stunning political triumph when, for only the second time in history, Republicans picked up seats in both the House and the Senate in the first mid-term of a presidency. Two years later, Bush won re-election — and this time, the popular vote — and still more gains for the GOP in Congress, another historic accomplishment. James Carville, another famous political consultant, wrote in TIME that year that Rove's ability to win Bush a second term was "the signature political achievement of my lifetime." ....... "Bush's Brain", as Rove was sometimes called (usually by opponents who assumed Bush didn't have one of his own) ....... What often distinguished Rove from other strategists was his sweeping vision. He is encyclopedic in his knowledge of the smallest details of electoral politics — of precincts and turnout models, county activists and regional issues ....... As long ago as 1998, his stated project with Bush was to remake the GOP into a permanent governing majority of the kind the Democratic Party enjoyed from 1932 through 1968. ......... His plan was for nothing less than a broad re-alignment of American politics. ....... the mutation of the GOP into a party of big government ..... a party in retreat ..... In the 2006 mid-terms, Rove assured nervous Republicans that they could win again if they maligned their Democratic opponents as soft-headed and weak on terror. ....... Now Rove will join the speaking circuit, write a book and probably teach some college classes in Texas.
What Iowa's Straw Poll Tells the G.O.P. John McCain (101), whose position in favor of comprehensive immigration reform has decimated his campaign in Iowa. .... The quadrennial spectacle is unlike any other in American politics. Amidst giant tents, huge barbeque spreads, kids' rides and live music of all genres, supporters of the candidates were bused in from all over Iowa to cast votes. The proceeds from ticket sales go to the Iowa Republican Party, which stages the event as a fundraiser. It has, however, taken on a life of its own, becoming a test of organizational prowess and a game of chicken on spending and expectations in advance of the caucuses. ........ Giuliani will likely join Romney for the first time with television advertising in the key early voting votes of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. .... The politics of Iraq will only get more complicated for all of the Republican candidates.
Karl Rove's Flawed Vision
Are Baseball Umpires Racist? Bad calls by the ump are as much a part of baseball as home run records, rabid fans and watery beer, but a new study shows that an umpire's decision may have a disturbing ulterior motive: racism. ......."Baseball is a very closely played game." .... it also has an indirect effect on a team's psyche. Baseball is a game of strategy. ...... the bias benefits mostly white pitchers. Not surprising, since 71% of MLB pitchers and 87% of umpires are white. ..... minority umpires judged Asian pitchers more unfairly than they did white pitchers ..... referees in the National Basketball Association make racially biased calls too, calling more fouls against players of the opposite race ..... it can be easily reduced or eliminated. When a game's attendance is particularly high, when the call is made on a full count or when ballparks use QuesTec, an electronic system that evaluates the accuracy of umpires' calls after the game, the biased behavior disappeared ..... bias is instilled in infancy — much like enduring personality traits such as shyness or high self-esteem
Bush advisor Karl Rove leaving White House Miami Herald
Rove synthesized marketing and politics MarketWatch the "boy" genius who almost single handedly engineered the ascent of George W. Bush, first to the top of Texas politics and then into the presidency ...... Rove is a fiendish, clever, manipulative charlatan, who helped foist Bush onto an unsuspecting public. ...... blending old-style marketing techniques and modern campaigning ..... his knowledge of the much-maligned direct mail business ..... In a business where a "successful" conversion rate may be just 1%, practitioners become extremely knowledgeable about what actually works with people. ....... The specific knowledge of what issues resonated with which voters could then be combined with targeted get-out-the-vote efforts. Apply that knowledge to the key battleground states and suddenly all of that work could be amplified by the winner-take-all Electoral College system that operates in most states, most notably in West Virginia in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. ....... A peculiar side benefit of the Rove technique was that it got around television, not his client-in-chief's strongest medium. A second benefit was that it operated so far below the radar that it was difficult for opponents to respond, since they barely even knew what was happening. ...... given how quickly presidential politics jumps from one medium to the next, one thing seems distressingly clear. The next Karl Rove, whatever his political disposition, is likely to come from the world of e-mail spam.
Nepal's Rebel Leader Threatens to Quit Coalition Government Bloomberg
Giuliani continues his conservative shift Boston Globe
Sky's the show: Popular meteor shower hits tonight New Jersey Herald the annual Perseid meteor shower, "one of the most famous and popular meteor showers of the year." .... observers can expect to see between 60 and 100 meteors an hour, an average of one or more per minute. The best viewing time will be about 4 a.m. Monday morning, but the event will be visible all through the night for those with dark skies. ...... In past centuries, people could not understand and sometimes feared the streaks of light that appeared across the sky. Now, some groups are setting up lawn chairs to enjoy the event. ...... as the Earth passes through a trail of debris left by a comet.
Obama's Wife Decries Blackness Question ABC News
Obama's Wife Decries Blackness Question Guardian Unlimited ``We're still playing around with the question: Is he black enough?'' Michelle Obama told a campaign event on Chicago's South Side. ``Stop that nonsense.'' .... Obama got Oprah. Clinton gets Magic.
Barack Obama: GQ Hits the Road with the Presidential Candidate Earthtimes.org Lizza interviewed Obama numerous times beginning in early 2004, just after his Senate primary win. ...... one of the criticisms in the national press of me is, 'Well, he may not be mean and tough enough for the rough-and-tumble of a presidential race.' Well, it turns out we have had some sharp elbows once in a while. But then people are shocked, and they say, 'Look, the guy's not who we thought he was!'
Tough talk drives Clinton effort Boston Globe convincing voters that she can be trusted with the nation's security is one of her biggest hurdles. ....... given how much other women in American politics have struggled to be taken seriously on military and foreign policy issues. ...... When Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1984, she was dogged by questions about whether she could "push the button" to launch an attack if the Cold War turned hot. ........ "I was quizzed [about foreign policy] everywhere I went. It was test, test, test," recalled Ferraro. "It was patronizing and offensive." ...... She worked hard to get a seat on the powerful Armed Services Committee, which deals with most defense issues. She has advocated for better health benefits and higher pay for the military, and even free postage for families to mail packages to loved ones serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And she has sought private briefings with military leaders and has grown friendly with several high-profile retired generals. ...... Wow, she listens to what we have to say more than any other senator ..... cosponsoring a bill to expand the Army by 100,000 soldiers and supporting new spending on missile defense ...... knowledge and preparation are distinct from wisdom and judgment. Clinton's 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq war -- heavily criticized by her opponents and liberal bloggers -- "is a small but damning piece of evidence" about her wisdom ......... leading Senator Barack Obama 51 percent to 29 percent among those who want an immediate withdrawal from Iraq -- which isn't even her position ....... in debates and speeches, she has often managed to come across as both the toughest and the most clear-eyed candidate. ...... she sounded like the elder statesman, painting Obama as rash ..... said the United States should "destroy" Osama bin Laden. ..... While many voters view Clinton as cold and calculating, those very characteristics help her come off as a plausible leader of the armed forces ....... Patricia Schroeder, the Democratic congresswoman from Colorado who was ridiculed for tearing up when she announced she would not run for president in 1988. ..... the fact that she is not warm and cuddly .... Schroeder, who supports Clinton, said that women in politics still have to "leap through 14 hoops" to be taken as seriously as men, but that Clinton has accomplished that. ......... in the officer corps, at least in the Army, is that what had been an almost reflexive conservative or Republican bias has shifted
Clinton-Obama clash raises experience issue Washington Times jumped in with a press release. "Clinton, Obama both wrong," the release blared, calling Mrs. Clinton's response "overly-rigid" and Mr. Obama's "overly-simplistic." ..... "Words mean things," said Mr. Dodd, who has since created a "Dodd vs. Obama" section on his campaign Web site. ..... Bush called him to the White House early in his first term, ordering: "Brief me on Europe." ..... the spat has improved his standing because "the public is getting a little fed up with the Clinton-Obama fighting." ..... In Iowa, he scoffed at the argument over rogue leaders, saying: "I've already talked to them ...... listed the foreign leaders each Democratic hopeful has met with during their careers. Mr. Biden led the pack with more than 100, followed by Mr. Dodd, with just under 100; Mrs. Clinton, the former first lady, with 90; and Mr. Richardson with 21. ...... Dodd criticized Mrs. Clinton's recent speech on the subprime mortgage lending crisis and noted he "has already taken leadership" on the issue, and that "addressing the crisis will require more than rhetoric on the campaign trail."
They fear Obama's too hot! New York Daily News charm, good looks and pure star power
Clinton to Run First TV Ads in Iowa Washington Post Iowa, her weakest state
Obama and Clinton Go Nuclear Washington Post her answer is wrong on policy and wrong on strategy. ...... It didn't take long for the AP to catch Clinton in a reversal, reporting that she had disavowed the use of nuclear weapons against Iran in April 2006. "I would certainly take nuclear weapons off the table," she told Bloomberg Television ....... The nuclear weapons may destroy the intended target, but using them would spawn countless more bin Ladens and hordes of al Qaeda fighters and would push other states to develop nuclear weapons of their own. Even threatening to use nuclear weapons in these circumstances is counterproductive: America's supposed willingness to kill indiscriminately is a key part of terrorist rhetoric and is used by rogue states to justify obtaining WMD of their own.
Magic supporting Clinton's prez bid SI.com
Clinton hopes he'll have the Magic touch New York Daily News
Earvin 'Magic' Johnson to hold fundraiser for Clinton campaign KESQ
Death Toll from South Asia's Monsoon Floods Tops 2000 Voice of America
Pupils go hungry in Bihar because cook is low-caste Reuters India
Dalit Woman Stopped From Cooking Mid-day Meals NEWSPost India
China Toy Boss Kills Self After Recall Washington Post
India free to test nuclear weapons under US deal, leader says International Herald Tribune
Indian Pm Defends Nuclear Deal With Us Guardian Unlimited
Indian Prime Minister Defends Nuclear Agreement Washington Post
China's Worrisome Inflation Data BusinessWeek
Inflation Surges in China New York Times 5.6 percent ..... Grain prices have been rising globally because more grain is being used for ethanol production and because increasingly affluent people in developing countries are buying more grain-fed livestock and poultry. ..... China’s 800 million peasants ...... the economy may have reached an unsustainable rate of growth when it expanded 11.9 percent in the second quarter. ..... National, provincial and local government agencies have engaged in a frenzy of spending since then on new ports, railroads, highways, pipelines and other infrastructure while businesses have been investing heavily in new factories, office buildings, apartment towers and more. Economists contend that the sheer scale of the spending has sometimes been wasteful and many unnecessary projects have been completed. ...... China has avoided so far the inflationary bottlenecks that briefly threatened to overwhelm it in 2004, even as growth has accelerated to a considerably faster pace.
Google shuts down video service BBC News the success of YouTube has made Google Video increasingly irrelevant.
Google Video Shuts Downs Paid Category Search Engine Roundtable
Universal and Google to Sell Unprotected Music Switched
Big B dares UP govt to jail him Times of India Bachchan has blamed his problems on change of regime in Uttar Pradesh, while daring the government to put him in jail if it felt he was guilty. .... the Barabanki DM had confirmed that the land was his and he had used the certificate to buy land in Bhavna in Maharashtra .... "Two or three years later, they suddenly said the certificate is wrong. How does anyone function in a situation like this? So, everytime there is a change of government, everything that has passed before, or any documentation that has been given to you as permission to continue doing your work, has to stop," he said. ..... Bachchan said if owning agricultural land also classified the owner as farmer, then "there are millions of people who own agricultural land and do not necessarily go down on their hands and knees and till the earth". .... pointed out he was "hounded" for Bofors scam even when his "friend" Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister. .... "I'm happy that I fought, I'm happy that I cleared my name (in the Bofors scam), I'm happy that I fought single-handedly against the government and defeated them."
Donating land was my right, says Big B
UP to go ahead with case against Big B
Big B surrenders all his farmland
No gain for Big B in holding land
Big B no farmer, says court
Allahabad HC admits Bachchan's farmer petition
Petition seeking CBI probe into Bachchan's land in HC
Land row: Big B moves Allahabad HC
'Amitabh likely to face action over land deal'
Big B ready for probe into land allotment
No plans to re-enter politics: Big B
Put me in jai if I am guilty: Amitabh Bachchan Apun Ka Choice
Big B takes a dig at govt The Tribune
Ailing Goldman Fund to Get $3 Billion Infusion New York Times
Goldman injects $3bn into quant fund Financial Times
New season of Egyptian soccer league kicks off Xinhua
HP, Dell expected to benefit from cheaper parts ZDNet The parts that go into your PC are getting cheaper. .... unit sales are up, demand is solid and profit margins are better due to cheap component costs. ..... DRAM prices are down 27 percent on average this quarter compared to the prior one. ..... the $48.5 million Dell is paying former CEO Kevin Rollins

Clinton a Drag? Dems Fear Her Negatives Washington Post In more than 40 interviews, Democratic candidates, consultants and party chairs from every region pointed to internal polls that give Clinton strikingly high unfavorable ratings in places with key congressional and state races. .... A candidate's unfavorability scores almost always climb during campaigns. ..... Obama has much lower unfavorability ratings than Clinton ..... "gun-toting, bible-carrying, God-loving, church-attending" voters.
Many Dems fear Clinton's negatives will drag party down Los Angeles Times Officials say public has cemented distaste for her, but they say so anonymously for fear of her machine.

Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll Voice of America won more than 31 percent of the 14,000 some votes cast ..... His supporters, most of whom sported yellow tee-shirts in the sweltering heat as they milled around the straw poll site ...... his proven leadership, both in the private sector and as a state governor, but many also cited his values and character. ..... he is going to run the country conservatively and that his Mormonism will not come into play any more than Clinton's Christianity or Bush's Christianity. ..... Giuliani, Arizona Senator John McCain and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson ..... They all came in with less than two percent each in the straw poll.
Crackdown on illegal immigration Los Angeles Times The Bush administration announced a series of steps Friday to bolster security on the border, heighten work-site immigration enforcement, streamline guest worker programs and improve the immigration system. ..... establishing biometric exit requirements...... Raise fines by 25% for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. .... Extend the term of visas from one year to three for the approximately 65,000 professionals who enter each year from Canada and Mexico. ..... Study ways to improve visa programs for highly skilled workers. ..... Expedite background checks for legal immigrants.

There Is A Lot Of Room For Newt

How strong is the Democratic presidential field? Salon Three out of five Republicans said in a March poll that they were unhappy with their candidates, and in July "none of the above" was the Republican front-runner.

Newt has many foibles but lack of ideas is not one of them. He is not capable of being a Democrat but he is capable of being a worthy adversary. He showed a greater strength in the ideas department than in the people skills department during his prime. And a lot of Republicans whose careers he helped launch dumped him when they got the chance.

I see a strong possibility of his throwing his hat into the ring later this year when the presidential race would have begun if it were one of the previous cycles. Newt will not have been late. Others would have been early.

He will definitely bring more color to the race. The Republican debates would get less dull. His 1994 victory will get written about all over again: it was quite dramatic after all.

I know he is thinking about it. I think he will do it. I think he is going to seriously unsettle the current Republican cart. Everyone who is running will have to take notice.

At this point I have no idea how well he will do. But he will definitely bring with him a whole lot of media attention. He is going to spark debate. You can always count on Newt to bring along some fresh ideas.

He might or might not end up the nominee, but he will have made a difference regardless. But the way things are going, he will stand as good a chance as anyone else in the running.

In The News

Giuliani Missteps in Imagery of Sept. 11 New York Times
Obama rejects Clinton criticism, defends foreign policy plan San Diego Union Tribune Clinton was wrong when she said politicians shouldn't discuss hypothetical decisions on foreign policy. .... defended his recent call for military action to hunt down terrorists if Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf doesn't act. Obama also said it would be “a profound mistake” to deploy nuclear weapons in Afghanistan and Pakistan. ...... judgment trumped experience ... “Nobody had a better track record in experience than Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, but they had bad judgment ... The people who have been criticizing me over the past two weeks are the people who engineered what is the biggest foreign policy fiasco in a generation.” ......... defended his promise to open dialogue with dictators ...... “I'm not afraid to lose a propaganda battle with a bunch of dictators.”
Obama Defends Foreign Policy Talk Forbes
Obama: Enough With "Black Enough" Washington Post poking fun at a stereotype of blacks. "I apologize for being a little bit late," he said, "but you guys keep asking if I'm black enough, so I figured I would stroll in." ..... this notion if you appeal to white folks, there must be something wrong ....... he would meet with Castro but demand that he release political prisoners .... if he, as the Democratic nominee, would pick Clinton as his running mate. Obama said she was "very capable" and that she would be on anyone's short list.
Obama rejects Clinton criticism, defends talk about hypothetical ... International Herald Tribune
Clinton points to crisis among young blacks Dallas Morning News (subscription) the number of young black men in America with little education and no marketable skills is making neighborhoods increasingly dangerous and creating an economic crisis. ....... 1.4 million men of color between ages 16 and 24 were "out of school and out of work and out of hope." .... one of every three .... "Many grow up without fathers, wind up in prison or end up losing their lives or taking lives." ..... giving parents additional tools to help raise children, including universal pre-kindergarten, the expansion of Head Start programs, public school choice and more single-sex schools. She pledged, if elected, to push for an end to discrimination that she says still affects minorities in the pursuit of jobs and other financial opportunities. ..... the number of black men in prison or otherwise involved with the legal system. ..... end the revolving door that too often confines those who committed nonviolent offenses ..... more mentoring and outreach for jailed offenders, more diversion programs like drug courts, an end to sentencing disparities in drug convictions, and more second-chance programs for ex-offenders
Clinton know-how wows scientists San Francisco Chronicle she understood the "urban heat island" effect, which means that the soil-and-plant roof will be 40 percent cooler than a typical top. ..... "I've led a lot of tours like this with a lot of officials, and believe me, this was pretty unusual to have someone understand what I was talking about." .... "Scientists have been muzzled, information has been taken off of government-sponsored Web sites, the leaders of our country have dismissed scientific research and advancements," Clinton said. "There has been a concerted effort against stem cell research, a campaign against evolution. I mean, it has been relentless." ...... recycling jeans for insulation, or having gardens on roofs ...... "green-collar" jobs ... "good jobs that can't be outsourced." ..... Newsom talked animatedly about how the senator understands the issues he cares about -- environment, homelessness, how to get federal money into his city -- even better than her husband, former President Bill Clinton. ...... "I like Barack (Obama) and admire him ... and (John) Edwards as well ... but I never was able to have a discussion of the issues with the same depth, the same understanding, that I have had with Hillary Clinton," he said.
Clinton says Bush waged 'insidious campaign against science' San Jose Mercury News

Let Me Get This Straight

Talking Talk

When Barack Obama said he was open to talking to adversaries - like Kennedy to Khrushchev, Reagan to Gorbachev - Hillary's sky came off the hooks. Somebody needs to inform Hillary that Barack Obama is running for President of the United States. He is not running for armchair intellectual. As in, ah, today, for coffee, I'd like to invite over brother Fidel. Next week, if I am open, if I have time after my leisurely evening walk, check for me if brother Kim is around. Would he like to have some spaghetti with me? We could catch a game together.

For a President of the United States to say he wants to talk is for the entire machinery of the US federal government to say the machine wants to talk. That is intimidating thought signal sent to any world leader, Third World dictator and otherwise. You don't think Sarkozy's blood starts pumping a little when his aide tells him he has a phone call from the President of the United States?

It is deliberate distortion on Hillary's part to suggest Obama is irresponsible in suggesting Obama would want to talk. She instead would first get lower level people to do homework. As if President Obama would first send his entire State Department on vacation for a few weeks before he meets up with someone like the Saudi king, who also, by the way, is a dictator.

Not Old Enough To Walk The Walk

I don't blame Chris Dodd for suggesting Barack Obama is not old enough for the White House. Heck, if I had as many white strands of hair as Dodd, I'd be saying the same thing, only more elaborately. I'd be saying Barack Obama is not old enough for skydiving, he is not old enough to be allowed a haircut. He is not old enough to sing. He is not old. He is too young and dynamic.

Turning A Cave Into Rubble Is Not Invading A Country

There are a few small countries out there. I hear the Vatican is pretty small, though I have never been there, so I don't know exactly how big or small. But I don't know of any country that is one small hill, or a small cave somewhere.

Bin Laden is in some kind of an underground enclave in the Northwest province of Pakistan. Look at the map above. There is a province called the Northwest Frontier Province. The state called Pakistan does not exist there. The Pakistan government signed a "peace deal" with the tribals in charge of that part of that country. It is not exactly Arizona. Bin Laden is somewhere in there. He is underground. Literally underground.

"If we have actionable intelligence on al-Qaida operatives, including [Osama] bin Laden, and President Musharraf can not act, then we should."

This is just one sentence. How can you distort it? Really?

"Actionable intelligence" means Bin Laden's precise location has been found. President Obama would of course inform Musharraf, and he would give Musharraf the option to strike the location immediately. If Musharraf does not have that kind of a precise missile that would take the target out, President Obama would seek his permission to launch a US precise strike which noone expects Musharraf to not give. But should Musharraf take more than a few minutes to decide, which would be enough time to let the information go from Musharraf's office to the ISI to Bin Laden, then President Obama would go ahead and strike. He would not wait. He will not invade Pakistan. He will just take out this one cave.

Would President Hillary Rodham act any differently? Would President Dodd change the script the slightest? If they would, the American people have a right to know how.

Who is being naive? Who is being irresponsible?

What will likely happen is this. Whichever country between the US and Pakistan first finds out where Bin Laden is will share the information with the other and both will take less than three minutes to make a coordinated attack on the target. They will hit together.

Hillary's November Surprise: She Will Sell Her House
Register 100,000 New Voters In NYC For Barack
Engaging Third World Dictators
What Obama Said On Pakistan
Explaining Early State And National Polls
Chelsea For Obama, Caroline For Obama
Flatten It Out
The McCain Doctrine: Keep The Swamp, Keep The Mosquitoes
DL21C Annual Summer Bash: Barack Won The Straw Poll
Obama, Pick Up The Phone, Talk To Hillary
The Exchange
Global Warming
Winner Of The Debate: YouTube
20 Million Single Moms: Will Obama Go For Them?

In The News

Obama mounts big lead in fundraising in state; Romney tops GOP list Seattle Times

Iowa will alter law to keep 2008 contest Politico
Rupert Cornwell: Clinton's girl-power master stroke New Zealand Herald Each of them has provided its "Hillary moment". .... once again, Hillary Clinton stole the show. .... "I'm your girl." ... neatly upstaged the competing claims of her millionaire male rivals and it threw down a not-so-subtle sexist gauntlet. ..... Male candidates love to depict themselves as one of the guys. What's wrong with being one of the girls - especially when this girl looks more like a winner every day? ...... Barack Obama may raise more money, and in Iowa and New Hampshire he and John Edwards are running her very close. But ..... If one thing has come out of the debates, it is that Clinton looks the part. ..... Everything she says sounds deliberately cautious, programmed and calculated. Unlike her husband, she hasn't mastered the art of faking authenticity. Again and again you wish there was a spontaneous show of emotion. ...... you cannot but admire the professional skills of team Clinton ...... Above all, she dominates the debates. Alone of the candidates, she seems to have launched into the general election campaign. She has taken flak from the left by expounding some centrist realities - for instance that lobbyists are a fact of life. She has also conspicuously refused to join Edwards in admitting her 2002 Senate vote authorising the Iraq war was a mistake. ...... she floats above the fray .... she knows her stuff. .... Americans are now bitterly learning the consequences of entrusting the White House to an ignorant and untested president. It is surely no coincidence her rise in the polls is happening when Obama is tying himself in knots; first declaring that, if elected, he would hold talks with Iran, Cuba and other American foes, then saying he was ready to bomb terrorist bases in Pakistan without Islamabad's permission.
Poll: Clinton firmly positioned as Democratic front-runner CNN Clinton only has a 3-point lead over Obama among college graduates ..... Turnout is much higher among college graduates, particularly in the primary season .... Iowa ... Obama led with 27 percent, while Clinton and Edwards both had 26 percent. ... Since June, no candidate's support has changed by more than one point.
Obama relates to being 'on the outside MSNBC
Clinton camp emulates Bush tactics? MSNBC "[T]he Clinton and Bush recipes for political success share unusual overlap, starting with their basic ingredients: a highly disciplined candidate running an equally well-disciplined operation, surrounded by extremely loyal staffers who take care not to undercut their candidate with leaks to the press." ...... similarities between the operations: effectively using the straw man, aggressively pushing back against the media, projecting the aura of inevitability, and adopting a you're-with-us-or-against-us mentality.
Clinton on NAFTA MSNBC she didn't vote for CAFTA. But she didn't mention her husband's role, saying only that NAFTA's implementation "has hurt American workers."
"Actionable intelligence" MSNBC Does that mean she largely agreed with Obama -- just didn't like that he actually said it out loud?
Makeup's too much work for Michelle Chicago Sun-Times In photographs, she appears rather ordinary. On the stump, she comes across as down-to-earth. But in person, the wife of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is stunning. ..... you should have been in the pressroom after Michelle went on "60 Minutes" earlier this year wearing very little makeup. Gray-haired journalists were aghast. ...... Given the discouraging statistics regarding black women and marriage (black women are the least likely of any group to get married and the most likely to get divorced, according to a recent study), Michelle and Barack have defied the odds. ....... before you start worrying about, 'I don't have a man,' where are you in your own space, in your own head? ...... "What do I need to be as healthy and happy on my own with or without? And the minute you get that in order, it seems like things fall into place." ...... making sure the family spends Sundays together, and planning her travel around the social schedule of her two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6. ..... "Every woman I know -- and this crosses race, political affiliation and religion -- is that we, as women in this day and age, are trying to do it all. Many of us work because we have to. Many of us don't have the flexible hours. Many of us don't have a job that pays a living wage or health care for our kids. When your family is not right and your children aren't right, you aren't right," she said. "Women have taken on all this burden with fewer support from society and the government, and we are all just struggling through because nobody wants to look like they're not handling it," Michelle added.

Hillary's November Surprise: She Will Sell Her House

Obama 2008 has been the leader when it has come to raising funds this year so far. There is no reason to believe that will not continue over the next two quarters. But my worry is the wide gap between how much Obama raise and how much Hillary raises will not be wide enough to offset the possibility that a worried Hillary sinking in Iowa might inject her own personal money some time in November. What if she were to throw 20 million of her own? How does that change the dynamic?

Obama will not have that personal option. And so it would be unwise for the Obama donors to sit back and relax and bask in the frontrunner status. Being frontrunner will not be enough. A lot of money will have to be spend to make up for the fact that Obama is not the same brand name as Clinton. A perennially controversial President Clinton soaked up a lot of ink and media time in eight years. Every mention of the Clinton name in that period cemented the brand quality of the same.

And so Obama 2008 will need more money than Clinton 2008 just to give parity to the candidate on substance. So give. Donate. Pass on the message. Invite others to give. Give and give again. We will need to raise at least $10 million more than Hillary in both the third and fourth quarters.

Obama: Older Than Bill Clinton Was In 1991

It is ridiculous to suggest Obama is not old enough. Look who is talking.


In The News

US Seeks to Curb Illegal Immigration Forbes
Democrats quizzed at LA gay-rights forum Los Angeles Times gay and lesbian voters, one of the party's more active and reliable voting blocs. ..... stepped gingerly around the edges of charged topics such as same-sex marriage. ..... live on Logo, a cable and satellite network aimed at gays and lesbians. ..... gays and lesbians should be afforded the rights of married couples through civil unions. ..... Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who both spoke strongly in favor of gay marriage. .... called for gays and lesbians to be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces. ..... nearly identical positions ..... same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt ..... expand the definition of hate crimes to include those motivated by a victim's sexual orientation and gender. ....... "All these candidates want the support of the gay community. Politically, they are pretty generous with fundraising and very active"
http://visiblevote08.logoonline.com/2007/08/09/video-barack-obama-rewind/
ESPN’s Beckham Obsession New York Times All of them had a lot to say about Beckham as he sat on the bench, tied his boots, warmed up, sat down on the bench, re-tied his boots, warmed up again … Close-up of his facial expressions. Shot of him talking to Cobi Jones. Cut to a sock adjustment. For all that was going on on the field, it was the superstar on the bench that held ESPN’s interest. ..... though the English superstar’s presence clearly gave the Galaxy a boost, he looked no more impressive than the United midfielder Josh Gros who hustled and made incisive passes for $6,500,925 less than Beckham this season.
Obama Argues for Civil Unions for Gays Forbes
Clinton is solid, Edwards is slick, and Obama is nervous at ... AfterElton.com I continue to be astounded by how pro-gay the whole lot of them are, and what a sharp contrast the Democratic slate is with the Republican one ..... It was Michael Dukakis, back in 1988, who was the first presidential candidate to actually say the word "gay." ...... in 2004, John Kerry was the first presidential nominee to refer to gay people in his convention speech. .... I was disappointed in Barack Obama's performance. He's my candidate, but I thought he seemed nervous, and his answers were vague and meandering. It made me wonder if he's truly tested enough for the presidential campaign. ..... Maybe the reason he seemed nervous was because the questions directed at him were so adversarial. .... the sense that this just isn't the year of a straight white man ..... the contrast between her, who clearly has complete command of what seems like every issue, and our current President Bobblehead, is jarring ...... I like that Hillary immediately goes wonky. A president who micromanages and understands detail .... a shame to take up so much time with what are obviously — yes, I'll say it — fringe candidates .... I appreciate the passion of people who think I'm a Total Sell-Out for being willing to accept anything less than Total Equality Right This Instant.
Democrats Voice Support of Gay Rights in TV Forum New York Times
Obama retracts statement; defends Musharraf Pakistan Dawn
US citizens protest Obama’s threats to Pakistan Associated Press of Pakistan
Obama’sa fool if he rushes in to Pakistan ChronicleHerald.ca
Clinton, Too, Ruled Out A-Bomb Use New York Times
Clinton Ruled Out Nukes in 2006 Washington Post
Obama's Foreign Policy Blunder Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun Despite his rising status as the rockstar of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama has proven that no amount of popularity can match the experience and knowledge required to master the complexities of foreign policy. Obama threatened to unilaterally bomb Pakistan if actionable intelligence placed high-level al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and President Musharraf would not act. ..... the Pakistani lawmakers—from both the ruling and opposition parties—have heavily criticized the current state of relations with America, citing both Obama's unilateral threat and also legislation he promotes tying aid to Pakistan with their performance against terrorists
Could the shine be coming off Obama? Town Hall
Giuliani's 'I'm one of them' remark angers 9-11 workers Cincinnati Post
Giuliani Talks About Ground Zero Risks Washington Post
Rep. Rangel Rips Giuliani, Calling Him A 'Bum' WNBC
Poll: Giuliani leads for GOP nomination CNN

Facebook Faces Up BusinessWeek Now, with founder Mark Zuckerberg heading back to court Aug. 8 to defend himself against accusations that he stole the site's concept from ConnectU, another collegiate social network with its roots at Harvard, the vultures are on the sidelines, flapping their wings. ...... 71% of users are now outside the college age-bracket. .... a widget that links to Facebook. ..... on CollegeWikis.com's sponsored Facebook application, SuperWall, users post college-specific information that is instantly communicated to the virtual message walls of other registered users at their college. SuperWall is currently one of Facebook's 10 most popular applications.
Apple: Back to the iMac an industry trend away from desktops. .... A new feature called Web Gallery lets users store digital photos and video on the .Mac subscription site
What's Behind Apple's iWork? Cupertino and Redmond ..... Long Cold War-style rivals .... Saving Apple, he said, required getting beyond the insistence that for Apple to win Microsoft would have to lose. ..... Google's Web-based office applications, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, are free, easy to use, and compatible with Word and Excel. They also work on a Mac. To use them, all you need is a fast Internet connection and a browser. .... others are creating Web-based office applications such as ThinkFree and Zoho ...... AdiumX, which supports more or less every instant-messaging scheme under the sun, including Microsoft's .... the underwhelming reaction to Vista so far ..... Mac sales growth is ahead of the rest of the PC industry. .... Perhaps the Cold War never really ended.
YouTube Your Way to Better Speaking I'm spending more time these days on YouTube. .... a treasure trove of material that can help you become a better presenter and public speaker. .... Hillary Clinton stood confidently and maintained strong eye contact. .... credited Barack Obama with using confident hand gestures ..... strong speakers will stand (or sit) with poise and confidence, use hand gestures, maintain eye contact, and avoid fidgeting. ..... "bridging" .... answer difficult issues by using the question to segue—or bridge—to what they want to talk about ..... a powerful tool to advance the conversation to areas the speaker wants to talk about. ..... "Man on the Moon" speech at Rice ..... U2's Bono to Lee Iacocca ... Both men speak with clarity and passion. ..... Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers .... All of his keynote addresses, presentations, and interviews are open to everyone on the "newsroom" section of Cisco's site. ..... Watch as the world's top leaders handle themselves confidently and gracefully. .. CNN's access to world leaders is unmatched and the TV network continues to place more of its interviews online. .... Powell answers tough questions crisply and succinctly. He also has great posture .... Business leaders who are great communicators are constantly looking for ways to improve. .... discover new, effective ways to electrify your audience during your next meeting or presentation.

GOP advances primary in race for White House Guardian Unlimited
Countdown quickens in US election BBC News
14 Jan: Iowa caucus
22 Jan: New Hampshire primary
29 Jan: Florida
5 Feb: some 20 states including California, New York, New Jersey
5 February 2008, which has already been dubbed "Super-Duper Tuesday" ....
South Carolina's tradition of being the first Southern state to hold a primary.
Primary Shifts Complicate Leading Candidates' Plans (Update1) Bloomberg
Pakistanis Express Ire at Army and Musharraf New York Times “Before, our children would salute our soldiers when they passed. Now they spit on them.” ..... anger was set off by the government’s decision to storm the Red Mosque ..... Conversations with ordinary Pakistanis reveal uncommonly outspoken anger and antipathy toward General Musharraf specifically and the military’s involvement in politics generally. Analysts and opinion polls support the impression. ...... “The consensus that is emerging in Pakistan is that the military has no role in politics” ...... two of Pakistan’s four provinces have turned to armed revolt against the military — Baluchistan where tribe members are demanding more autonomy, and the tribal areas, where Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies have established a stronghold. ...... Musharraf’s approval ratings had plummeted to 34 percent from 60 percent in June 2006. Nearly two out of three Pakistanis polled said they believed he should not run for re-election. ....... The poll .... before the Red Mosque assault ..... the military .. remained one of the most highly regarded institutions in Pakistan, with a steady 80 percent approval rating. ....... When he took power in a coup in 1999, General Musharraf was welcomed by Pakistanis disillusioned with years of unstable civilian governments dogged by corruption. He was at first credited with reining in some of the worst excesses of avaricious politicians and with overseeing a growing economy and a more open Pakistani society. ........ it is the military that has been by far the biggest beneficiary of about $10 billion in official American aid for Pakistan. ...... While the economy has expanded, so has the reach of the military’s many enterprises, which extend into virtually every corner of the economy, including bottled water plants, cement factories and lucrative real estate developments. ....... the military’s internal economy is worth billions of dollars. ..... Musharraf can’t even shake hands with ordinary people. He is so scared of his life ..... A World Bank assessment recently ranked Pakistan in the lowest 10th percentile for political stability and said corruption was as bad as it was in 1998. ..... That was just a year before General Musharraf seized power from Ms. Bhutto’s successor, Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of gross corruption and mismanagement.
Musharraf Rejects State of Emergency Washington Post
Fewer Mexican Immigrants Are Sending Money Back Home, Bank Says New York Times a rising sense of insecurity and uncertainty about whether they would stay in the United States. ...... only 49 percent of the Mexicans living in states with relatively recent immigration said they expected to be living in the United States five years from now. .... They identified discrimination as the biggest problem they faced, with 83 percent saying that discrimination against Latin American immigrants in general was growing in the United States. ....... $23 billion, making them the country’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil.
Tornado Hits Brooklyn; Subway Back in Service Most of the New York City subway system was back in service by this evening’s rush hour after a fierce morning storm disrupted transit service throughout much of the region and unleashed a rare and destructive tornado that whipped southwestern Brooklyn with winds of up to 135 miles an hour. ...... raged through Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, ripping the roofs off five brick rowhouses, yanking thick trees out by their roots, turning cars sideways and shattering countless windows. ..... the tornado was the first one to hit Brooklyn since at least 1950 ..... intense winds that tore up trees and ripped apart homes and buildings ..... near the corner of 37th Street and 13th Avenue ..... The woman who was killed this morning was driving through an underpass when her car got stuck. After getting out, she was struck and killed by another car. ..... “It was over very fast, within 30 seconds” ..... Amid the commuter havoc, M.T.A.’s Web site, mta.info, shut down. ..... In the Kensington area of Brooklyn, leaves and other debris littered the street, trash cans were knocked over, and awnings on stores were ripped. On the corner of Dahill Road and Church Avenue, trees blocked road lanes, and a 30-foot-long pizzeria sign was down on the sidewalk. ...... By late morning in the Kensington section of Brooklyn, residents were sweeping the sidewalks and streets, and firemen were putting up yellow tape around the fallen trees.
Obama's downward slide San Francisco Chronicle a string of otherwise unwelcome developments. ..... union endorsements are trending for either Clinton or Edwards. ..... the opinion polls, where the news for Obama is worsening. As his numbers dwindle, Clinton's numbers soar, both nationally and in the crucial swing states of Florida -- where Clinton outpolls Obama by 30 points -- and Pennslyvania and Ohio ...... Stubbing his toe, at least politically, on various foreign policy issues hasn't helped, adding to the perception, long-held by skeptics (unfairly or not), that he is a lightweight. ...... Obama is the first casualty of Obama.
How strong is the Democratic presidential field? Salon Three out of five Republicans said in a March poll that they were unhappy with their candidates, and in July "none of the above" was the Republican front-runner.
Obama feels Pakistan's pain Chicago Sun-Times Obama said Wednesday it's critical for Pakistan to be a constructive ally in fighting al-Qaida .... expressed sympathy for Musharraf, who faces a growing militant backlash in his Muslim nation.
Obama Softens Stance on Musharraf Washington Post defended the Pakistani leader and said it was important that America maintain strong relations with him.
Obama's History in Fundraising at Odds With Rhetoric FOX News
PACs and lobbyists aided Obama's rise Boston Globe he collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs as a state legislator in Illinois, a US senator, and a presidential aspirant. ..... from 1996 to 2004, almost two-thirds of the money he raised for his campaigns -- $296,000 of $461,000 -- came from PACs, corporate contributions, or unions ...... He tapped financial services firms, real estate developers, healthcare providers, oil companies, and many other corporate interests .... after seeing the influence of lobbyists firsthand during his two years in Washington, Obama decided before he entered the presidential race that he would take a different approach to fund-raising than he had in the past. ...... "His leadership on this issue is an evolving process." ..... Obama believes that healthcare lobbyists have blocked progress toward universal health coverage, and that oil company lobbyists have blocked badly needed changes to America's energy policies. ..... From the day he entered the presidential race, Obama has projected an outside-the-Beltway persona, positioning himself as the Washington change agent that Americans are pining for. ...... Clinton, whom Obama has been working to paint as a figurehead for the broken politics of Washington ..... Obama's campaign is relying almost exclusively on an unprecedented network of grass-roots donors and activists ..... Obama has championed public financing for elections and he fought hard to pass the federal ethics reform bill.
Clinton Discussed Use of Nukes Last Year Washington Post Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who chastised rival Barack Obama for ruling out the use of nuclear weapons in the war on terror, did just that when asked about Iran a year ago. "I would certainly take nuclear weapons off the table," she said in April 2006. ...... reports that the Bush-Cheney administration was actively considering nuclear strikes on Iran even as it refused to engage diplomatically
Clinton and Obama Gain Ground In Iowa Atlantic Online a virtual dead heat among the Democratic presidential candidates. .... John Edwards maintains a within-the-margin lead among likely caucus goers. His support is dropping. ..... Iowa Democrats are beginning to see the race as a contest between, increasingly, Obama and Clinton .... Bill Richardson: he continues his slow climb. ..... Obama seems to have Mitt Romney's problem. To wit: his standing in national polling is going southward and his standing in key state polls is trending in the opposite direction. .... the contrasts Obama is drawing.