Draw Distinctions, Work The Fundamentals

Draw Distinctions

Coke Gatorade, Not Coke Pepsi

The distinctions between Barack and Clinton on all the major issues are stark. Iraq, Iran, Health Care, Social Security, Ethics Reform. They are like night and day.

Barack wants to end the Iraq War. Hillary does not really. She wants to retain an unspecified number of troops.

Barack wants to fully engage Iran. Hillary wants to stop the talk and possibly invade Iran.

Hillary thinks the problem with health care is that the insurance companies are not making enough money. She is going to make it illegal for people to not have insurance. And she wants eight years to achieve that goal. Barack will deliver universal health care in four years without doing that illegal thing. Cutting costs across the board is a big part of it.

Barack has pledged to tax income also after 200,000 so as to solve the Social Security insolvency for good. Hillary does not like the idea.

Hillary is on the right to the Republicans when it comes to taking money from lobbyists. Barack wants major ethics reform.

And on and on and on.

It is Barack's job to make sure the American people get to know the distinctions exist.

Work The Fundamentals

Hillary 2008 is not going to implode. It is because Hillary is good at working the fundamentals. Money, message, organization. Obama 2008 is also good. It is going to keep at it. You have to balance Hillary out in this department. She should not feel to have an advantage.

Saudi Arabia, Iran

Eisenhower, Kennedy, Cuba, Bush, Clinton, Somalia, Bush, Obama, Iran
Why Hillary's Iran Vote Is Dangerous

Those two are competing powers in the region. They have supported opposing sides in Iraq's civil war. But Saudi Arabia is strongly opposed to US air strikes against Iran. Does that tell you something about how bad the neocon plans really are?

In The News

Google Gadgets Go Into The Wild InternetNews.com Google's announcement of OpenSocial Wednesday night marks something of a turning point for the technology darling. ..... OpenSocial will speed innovation and bring more social features to more places across the Web ..... we hope OpenSocial will become a standard set of technologies for making the Web social ..... the "social graph" concept that illustrates how individuals are connected to others across Web-based applications and discrete social networks like Orkut or Friendster. ...... Ning, Orkut, Hi5, LinkedIn, iLike, Flixster, and Slide ..... "People are getting sick of registering and re-declaring their friends on every site," and "developing 'social applications' is too much work." ...... a social graph comprising data from five community sites ...... established a Google Group for technical discussions. ...... geo-spatial mark-up language, KML 2.2 ...... Orkut, its social networking site, had 24.1 million users worldwide in June .... 114.1 million for MySpace ..... Google Gadget Ads ..... the clash between the company's old-school PR tactics and the more open attitudes of Silicon Valley startups.

SC Democrats Say No to Colbert New York Times
Poll gives Hillary Clinton big lead over Giuliani Telegraph.co.uk
Details of Spears' custody fight emerge USA Today
MySpace Joins Google Alliance to Counter Facebook New York Times The addition of MySpace, the world’s largest social network with 110 million active members, and Bebo, the No. 1 site in Britain with 39 million active users, could also put pressure on Facebook to drop its own standard and join the alliance, called OpenSocial. ....... “It will have access to 200 million users ...... The open standards could create a boom of innovation around social networks ........ Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning and the blogging network SixApart, as well as the software makers Oracle and SalesForce.com. ........ Creators of several of the most popular programs on Facebook, including Slide, RockYou, iLike and Flixster, have announced their intention to write programs conforming to the OpenSocial standards.
Iran letter sparks new fight between Clinton, Obama Reuters Clinton signed a letter to President George W. Bush on Thursday warning he has no authority from Congress for an attack on Iran ...... joined 29 other senators in signing a letter expressing concern about "provocative statements and actions" toward Iran by the Bush administration. ....... Obama instead introduced a binding Senate measure nullifying the earlier resolution. His campaign accused Clinton of using the letter to adjust her stance on Iran. .......... "While she's trying her best to change her position on yet another critical issue facing our country, Senator Obama knows that it takes legislation, not letters, to undo the vote that she cast" ........ dubbed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and imposed sanctions on its Qods force. ........ Obama said in an interview with The New York Times that if elected president he would "engage in aggressive personal diplomacy" with Iran, offering it economic inducements and a possible promise not to seek "regime change" if Tehran stopped meddling in Iraq and cooperated on terrorism and nuclear issues. ..... "changes in behavior" by Iran could possibly be rewarded with membership in the World Trade Organization.
Obama to Introduce Measure on Iran ABC News His resolution says any offensive military action against Iran must be explicitly authorized by Congress, and seeks to clarify that nothing approved so far provides that authority.
A New Democratic Split Over Iran Washington Post
Iraq Asks for Iran’s Help in Calming Kurdish Crisis New York Times
Obama Envisions New Iran Approach New York Times forging a new relationship with Iran would be a major element of a broad effort to stabilize Iraq as he executed a speedy timetable for the withdrawal of American combat troops. ............. Obama said that Iran had been “acting irresponsibly” by supporting Shiite militant groups in Iraq. He also emphasized that Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program and its support for “terrorist activities” were serious concerns. ....... Iran’s support for militant groups in Iraq reflected its anxiety over the Bush administration’s policies in the region, including talk of a possible American military strike on Iranian nuclear installations. .......... he would sit down for diplomatic meetings with countries like Iran, North Korea and Syria with no preconditions. .......... criticized Mrs. Clinton for an approach to Iran they call too hawkish ........ a yellow legal pad on the table in front of him, which listed points where he believed he and Mrs. Clinton differ on how to go forward in Iraq. .......... “She missed the strategic interests that should have dictated whether we went to Iraq in the first place or not.” ........ the mission of his residual force would be more limited than that posited by Mrs. Clinton. ....... the residual force would not have the mission of deterring Iranian involvement in Iraq. ...... the trainers are not constantly embedded in combat operations.” ...... said he hoped to withdraw all American combat forces within 16 months of taking office, his plan states that American and allied troops should be prepared to return to Iraq and protect civilians if there were genocidal attacks. ......... defense secretary or to important national security positions, Mr. Obama said he would consider “the best person, regardless of party.”
Clinton Signs Letter on Iran New York Times
Obama Takes Questions From 5-Year-Old The Associated Press Obama said. "If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?" ..... Hadassah, a correspondent for brandnewz.com, said after the interview that Obama "had great answers. And I had a great time meeting him."
Union in Clinton's Corner--And Ready For a Fight Washington Post

Kurds in Turkey Who Backed Erdogan Now Fear Civil War (Update1) Bloomberg
Turkey closes airspace to N.Iraq flights - NTV Reuters
I was persecuted, Sobhraj tells Nepal judges Sify
Candidates Biden, Giuliani trade insults Newsday Wednesday, Giuliani hit back, essentially calling Biden a cheat. .... the former New York mayor had only one sentence: "a noun and a verb and 9/11." He later added, "He is genuinely not qualified to be president." ...... Giuliani returned the favor, saying, "Joe was reading that comment. You've gotta ask him, who wrote it for him?" ..... While running for president in 1987, Biden was caught on video delivering a speech that borrowed lines from British politician Neil Kinnock.
Clinton's rivals see an opening Los Angeles Times her evasiveness on several key issues. ....... a candidate unwilling to commit to concrete plans. ...... On at least five issues raised in the debate, Clinton replied in ways that left it unclear what she meant or what action she might take. ........ "She was being attacked all night for taking different positions in front of different audiences," Giuliani said in a radio interview. "And then, by the end of the night, she took different positions in front of the same audience. It was pretty amazing. I mean, in politics I've never quite seen that before." ......... The response from the Clinton campaign included a somewhat lighthearted touch -- it posted a video on YouTube with footage of her debate rivals repeatedly invoking her name, set to Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." The montage ends with a clip of Clinton saying during the debate: "I seem to be the topic of great conversation and great consternation. . . ." ....... Social Security, whose long-term viability is a source of worry for many Americans. ...... The topic that caused her biggest political headache was the proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. ..... Clinton was asked about the controversial plan by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) to overhaul the tax code. Rangel, a Clinton supporter, has suggested repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax, a burden to some middle-class families, and imposing a 4% surtax on wealthier households. .... Clinton praised Rangel's "goal," said she did not have all the specifics of the plan and added that she did not like some of the details. ...... On Iraq, she said she was for ending the war, but also said an unspecified number of troops may be left in place for an ongoing mission of battling Al Qaeda fighters in that country. ...... In the last half-hour she probably didn't do so well. ...... 2.5 million viewers ..... a forum featuring the Democrats in September on the same cable network had an audience of fewer than 1.5 million viewers
Germany's Merkel hails India AFP She also pointed to India's need for nuclear energy as another business opening, should New Delhi manage to implement a deal with the United States that would bring the country into the global loop of nuclear commerce. ..... Bilateral trade has doubled in the past three years to 10 billion euros ...... India is currently the biggest arms buyer among emerging nations. ...... the country is not ready to compromise economic growth by accepting binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
The climatic imperialism Economic Times Climate change, as an issue, is most likely to become the next outsourcing backlash, the next big WTO type North-South divide, and eventually the next big anti-globalisation weapon that rich countries can point at developing ones. ...... Give up cheap flights, give up the 30 layers of plastic packaging on a biscuit, the wasteful luxury that development brings? Voluntarily return to a poorer way of life? ....... Since nobody can make the US budge, or China, they're gonna point fingers at you ..... across Europe, climate change is much less of a concern than globalisation. ...... we want the rich countries to pay for cleaning up the mess they've made, and we'll try not to make the same mess as we grow. ........ in India, we already recycle everything, thrice over. .... Indians are way more concerned about climate change than Europeans ..... and our politicians just blather on about the nuclear deal, which might have helped us off this precipice.
Everybody vs. Hillary New York Times
Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math
Life’s Work: The Feminine Critique
In Rape Case, a French Youth Takes On Dubai The rape of a 15-year-old French boy in a remote patch of desert outside of Dubai has raised questions about how the country’s legal system treats foreigners. ....... an acquaintance, a 17-year-old native-born student at the American school, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home. ...... three Emirati men in the car, including a pair of former convicts ages 35 and 18 ...... they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the back seat of the car .... dumped Alex across from one of Dubai’s luxury hotel towers. ...... criminal legal system remains a perilous gantlet when it comes to homosexuality and protection of foreigners. ....... authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges ..... they raised the possibility of charging him with criminal homosexual activity, and neglected for weeks to inform him or his parents that one of his attackers had tested H.I.V. positive while in prison four years earlier. ........ Dubai still lives in the Middle Ages ....... sperm from all three were found in Alex ...... questions about unequal treatment of foreigners here that have long been quietly raised among the expatriate majority ..... taboos surrounding H.I.V. and homosexuality ....... (Under Emirates law, foreigners with H.I.V., or those convicted of homosexual activity, are deported.) ....... Dubai’s economic miracle — decades of double-digit growth ...... inexplicable and at times hostile official behavior described by Alex and his parents. ...... the moral, pseudoscientific and political prejudices ........ the 36-year-old assailant was H.I.V. positive ....... So far the teenager has not tested positive for H.I.V. ........ A doctor examined Alex the night of the rape, taking swabs of DNA for traces of the rapists’ sperm. He did not take blood tests or examine Alex with a speculum. Then he cleared the room and told Alex: “I know you’re a homosexual. You can admit it to me. I can tell.” ........ The doctor, an Egyptian, wrote in his legal report that he had found no evidence of forced penetration ....... suffering unsettling flashbacks. ....... “the most modern legal system among the Arab countries ...... In business and finance, the nation has worked hard to earn a reputation for impartial and speedy justice. But the criminal justice system has struggled, balancing a penal code rooted in conservative Arab and Islamic local culture, applied to an overwhelming non-Arab population of foreign residents. ......... boycottdubai.com, a Web site started by Alex’s mother. ...... I’m doing this for all the other poor kids who got raped and couldn’t do anything about it
Maureen Dowd: Hillary la Française, Cherchez la Femme?
Obama's jabs at Hillary just bounce off Chicago Sun-Times
AP Interview: Obama Criticizes Clinton The Associated Press Obama said Wednesday that rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's less-than-straightforward answers in a Democratic debate raise questions about her ability to assume the presidency. ....... we need a president who is going to be open and forthright ...... Clinton left us wondering where she stood on every single hard question from Iran to Social Security to drivers' licenses for undocumented workers ....... she is running on her record as first lady as much as on her record as a senator ..... "The politics of hope does not mean hoping that your opponents aren't going to point out the differences between you and them," Obama said. ..... He pledged to continue to draw clear differences between himself and Clinton.
Obama, Edwards hammer Hillary on Iran, doubletalk Times of India
NH service workers union backs Edwards over Obama Boston Globe
Anatomy of an endorsement MSNBC
The backstory of the NH SEIU endorsement of Edwards Boston Globe a week after the executive board voted in favor of Barack Obama. ....... the SEIU decision was far from unanimous and far from uncomplicated. ..... the final count was 7-5 in favor of endorsing Obama. ...... after that vote New Hampshire SEIU President Gary Smith called Obama. Obama was on the phone as he walked off a stage on the Boston Common where he just received the endorsement of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Obama believed he won the endorsement of the union.
Where Do the Candidates Stand on Social Security? NPR Iraq, Iran, free trade, illegal immigrants — and Social Security, which is emerging as a hot issue among both Democrats and Republicans. ...... Obama says he would impose the tax on all incomes over $200,000, a move that could significantly improve Social Security's financial picture. ....... anything could be considered when we get to a bipartisan commission," Clinton said. "But personally I am not going to be advocating any specific fix until I am seriously approaching fiscal responsibility." ....... avoid generational warfare and big tax hikes or benefit cuts in the future
Clinton Regroups As Rivals Pounce Washington Post After a rare night of fumbles by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination rushed to maximize the damage yesterday, even as her advisers argued that the "piling on" engaged in by an all-male field of opponents will ultimately drive more female voters into her camp. ...... not her finest ..... the debate marked a turning point and would open a newly aggressive phase in the race. ..... Clinton's performance played into a pre-existing caricature: that she is both secretive and calculating ..... Edwards challenged Clinton most forcefully on what he called "double talk" in her rhetoric, after weeks on the campaign trail questioning her integrity. ....... Clinton advisers privately criticized her opponents and the debate's moderators. ....... it was six guys against her ..... Clinton appeared to equivocate ..... Yesterday, her campaign issued a terse statement intended to clear up her position, although it, too, was vaguely worded. ..... Campaign advisers, pressed to explain her view more clearly, said that she ultimately supports the driver's-license proposal. ....... Her rivals clearly remained delighted by the turn of events. Edwards .... promised to "keep pounding the drum ...... the entrenched special interests in Washington, represented by Clinton ...... "Some of you may have seen last night's debate," he said. "Six guys against Hillary. I'd call that a fair fight."
Democrats’ Debate: A Focus on Clinton New York Times “In 7th Round, a Pitched Debate: Clinton Hears It From Her Rivals” ....... Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment,” which says Republicans should not speak ill of fellow Republicans, should be applied to the Democrats as well. ...... All made impressive statements, coming across as thoughtful, intelligent individuals committed to keeping the United States the superpower it has always been. ...... all the candidates in the Democratic debate were fact-based and articulate, exhibiting leadership. ...... Mrs. Clinton was tougher and more credible on Iraq and Iran than any of the men on stage. She’d be just as much a cowboy toward Iran as President Bush is. ....... Not one male president seeking power gets called power hungry, and that is what you have to be to want to run for president. How come it is O.K. for a man but not a woman? The pressure we women have to live up to from all sides. Crazy! Mad crazy!
Union Gives Endorsement to Clinton New York Times
Clinton Wins Endorsement of Public Employees Union (Update2) Bloomberg
Clinton, Edwards pick up Big Labor support CNN
Opponents pounce on Clinton's wavering over driver's licenses San Diego Union Tribune
Clinton foes pounce on her support of license plan Newsday
Clinton backs NY driver's license plan for illegal immigrants Boston Globe
Bush confidant quits administration Los Angeles Times
Google's Growing Grasp Forbes
Google Goes OpenSocial to Trump Facebook eWeek a set of application programming interfaces that will allow programmers to write social applications that will work on LinkedIn, Friendster and other social networking sites. ....... OpenSocial is designed to help programmers build applications that reach more of the 400 million users of social networks than they would under the original open developer model ...... an answer to the launch of Facebook's highly successful developer platform, on top of which 7,000 applications have been built ..... Google is going the extra mile by enabling programmers to write applications for multiple social networks under three APIs, which will offer access to a user's profile and their friends, and the ability to let their friends know that activities have taken place. ....... to run on any Web site enabled by OpenSocial. ..... In addition to Google's own Orkut social site, roughly a dozen partners have signed up for OpenSocial, including LinkedIn, hi5.com, iLike, Friendster and Ning. All told, the sites comprise over 100 million users, or roughly double the Facebook user base. ........ Google has also lured SAAS (software as a service) provider Salesforce.com and business software giant Oracle to the OpenSocial fold. ...... business is by nature a social practice, predicated on relationships. Salesforce.com wants its developers to be able to build "social extensions" to Salesforce.com ...... The launch of OpenSocial fans the flames between Google and Facebook, which look like real rivals with each passing day. Google's move comes a week after Microsoft announced that it won an extension as the exclusive ad provider for Facebook, in which the Redmond, Wash., software giant also took a $240 million stake. ....... "I don't think its zero sum at this point, since the market is growing so quickly." ..... OpenSocial may be the harbinger of standards for social networking sites.
Google shares pass the $700 mark BBC News
In Search of a Google-Verizon Deal BusinessWeek ambition to become as major a broker of ads on mobile devices as it is on computers ..... Google typically keeps the lion's share of the advertising revenue generated when customers click on the ads ..... so-called white-label deals in which the brands of partners are hidden from the consumer's view
Apple's Leopard Hits the Spot The art of writing software involves a lot of borrowing from the work of others. Everyone does it ...... Apple's claim to have the best consumer computer. ...... While Windows and Linux encourage the use of folders and directories to tuck information out of sight, Mac users tend to store more and more stuff—programs, documents, videos—right on their desktops, until the screen calls to mind a teenage boy's bedroom. Leopard gently nudges you to keep the mess under control. Another borrowing from Windows Vista is the extensive use of detailed graphical icons to tell you what's in a file. And Apple adds Quick Look, a nearly instant full-size preview of the contents for most file types. ....... the equivalent of the Windows Start menu. ...... Apple's "my way or the highway" approach to how things should be done. ..... Ken Bereskin, senior director of OS X product marketing, says Mac's "robust system reliability" makes something like System Restore unnecessary
Why Delta Should Buy Northwest From route networks and planes to workers and investors, the third- and fifth-biggest U.S. airlines face compelling reasons to merge. ....... At Northwest, half of the 20 largest institutional shareholders are hedge funds or private equity firms, with a nearly 31% stake in the airline. ........ "six major domestic network carriers are too many." ...... Asia, a prized growth destination where all the major airlines have been scrambling to expand. ...... a consensual merger with a rational mix of routes, employees, and resources .... meld pilot seniority lists
Heads up: Google in talks with wireless phone companies Kansas City Star
Google shares coast past $700 International Herald Tribune
3 ex-NJ police say 'American Gangster' rewrites history New York Daily News years of selling $1 million-a-day worth of heroin - much of it smuggled into New York in the coffins of Vietnam soldiers. ........ "We spent nearly two years risking our lives on that case, and then we see a guy who had no interest before we made the arrests take the credit. We're angry." ...... Their work led to a 1975 raid after a delivery of 10 kilos of heroin. More than 30 members of Lucas' team were arrested, a bust that ended Lucas' reign. ..... Lucas, who spent time on the New York movie set last year, said his conviction came not from information gathered in the 1975 raid, but from investigations that followed it. ...... "I'm not going to credit them with getting me," said Lucas, who became an informant under Roberts' prodding. ..... "Those three cops couldn't catch a cold."
Jerry Seinfeld Buzzes His Way to the Big Screen ABC News