i had stopped visiting sullivans site some time back, i found the daily two feet of sewage on the clintons just uncomfortable to view, and smell.

since hillary endorsed obama, since they had their unity rally yesterday, i thought, why not check it out

McCain is at it again.  He is planning to resurrect the absurd "gas tax holiday" that he proposed back in March, which was so completely and unequivocally excoriated by every notable economist and commentator who could be reached for comment those many weeks ago.

As a refresher, here are my earlier posts on how ineffectual, wrong-headed and intellectually dishonest the whole proposition is.  Barack Obama has routinely spoken out and called this idea out for the shameless pandering that it is.

Here's the word out on McCain today:

John McCain is planning to resurrect his call for a national gas tax holiday, which became a staple of his stump speech in late April and early May.  A McCain aide told CNN's Dana Bash on Monday that the Arizona senator planned to plug the gas tax holiday in public statements throughout the day.

Along with Barack Obama, many economists largely dismissed the notion of a gas tax holiday as a political ruse that would do little to lower prices, but McCain has repeatedly said he does not believe the proposal would be a panacea for America's energy woes.

Instead, McCain argued, low-income families could save some extra cash to pay for their children's school supplies this fall, or perhaps treat themselves to a nice dinner.

Most economists have estimated that a gas tax holiday would save Americans nothing at the pump, because retailers would simply raise their prices to compensate.  Even if we took McCain at his word that it would save some money, it would only save the average consumer $25-30!

Great, by that logic, how about a $25 gift card to Office Depot (you know, for the school supplies) or McDonald's (for the "nice dinner" that $25 can buy a family of four)?

At least that way we could waste the same amount of money giving out worthless freebies to people without depleting the state infrastructure renewal funds that are funded by the federal gas tax.

I was not too long ago when McCain was strongly advocating for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from America's interventions in Somalia and Haiti. Compared to his rhetoric about Democrats wanting to "wave the white flag of surrender" in Iraq, think on this McCain quote from 1994 when he was advocating the immediate withdrawal of US forces from Haiti:

['As soon as possible'] does not mean 'As soon as order is restored to Haiti'.

It doesn't mean 'As soon as democracy is flourishing in Haiti'.

It doesn't mean 'As soon as we have established a viable nation in Haiti'.

'As soon as possible' means 'As soon as we can get out of Haiti without losing any American lives'.

Pretty stark difference, eh?

I guess his stance on "waving the white flag of surrender" depends on which constituency he is trying to appease at the time; i.e., the Republican Senate in the 90s and the Republican Base now.

See the video and judge for yourself:

I am going to keep this simple. I am leaving myDD for a while, because I believe that this blog is no longer objective.

I am glad that Jerome is trying to bring things into objective view, however, I honestly believe that his support of the Clinton candidacy has unbalanced him. Although I like Jon's writing, Jeromes has become sort of rambling ...with statements like "Hillary really needs to talk about Guam" ... and the like.
So. Quite honestly . I am not drinking the kool-aid.

If MyDD is becoming more objective by Jerome banning lots of supporters - how are we to know which ones. Once he hits delete, that voice is silenced. They can't tell you that they're gone.

Obama is the choice of progressives, myDD was once considered a bastion of support and data for the progressive community. ..

Clinton , however, is an establishment candidate pure and simple. There is nothing progressive about her. She's more than willing to do things like declare Iran and its guard, as a terrorist country - which is a pretense for military action. As she is to vote wholeheartedly against the grain of progressivism by voting for the Iraq war.

The Democratic party is not unlike the discussion at myDD. There are many who are in support of Clinton, who think she is "more qualified".  Fine.

But the entire discussion has, in my view, soured myDD and made it a worse place to hang out.  Clinton supporters were quoting polls in NC from shady sources. Clinton ads were used as the core of the message for front page posts. Polls from Fox News Agency and Dedicated threads supporting Fox News Conferences are being front paged.

Putatively this is to enhance discussion about the two candidates. However, at what price?

I recall when I Was in college, when those who hadn't really studied were reading for their final exams ... there was a sense of tension in the air. Normally I would just leave, and go to the movies that night before. I studied hard the weeks up to it.

And I would get an A.

And so I'm leaving here now, just as I did, essentially, when the work I did for Obama in my state gave him a 64% to clintons 20% win in this state.  I didn't worry at all on election day.

And frankly. I am not worried about next week.
Perhaps I should be.

But I am going to do that somewhere else.

At least for a week or so. I can't shake the possibility that I am not objective. So I will take care of that issue.
Somewhere else.

Take care myDD'ers and happy posting!!

Barack Obama is a stickler for the rules.

Except when it comes to parking citations. While a student at Harvard Law school, Barack Obama received a total of 17 parking violations between 1988 and 1991, 15 of which went unpaid until January of 2007.  Most of these tickets were for parking at a bus stop, not putting money in the meter and not having a parking permit on his vehicle. Why on earth did he wait 16 years to pay these citations?

Some people may say, so what? Personally, I think it is just an example arrogance in a man that has possessed an air of entitlement since the start of this election.  Parked his car in a bus stop? Are you kidding me?

Call me old fashioned, but paying one's debts is a sign of character and integrity. Not paying when one has the means to is just plain cheating. Character is of paramount importance in a president. Without it, you get someone like George W. Bush.

The fact that he only paid these tickets after the decision was made to run for the presidency demonstrates the action of political expediency, not conscience. That seems to be a reccuring theme with Obama.  

After examination of his associates, including Jeremiah Wright and Rezko, I'm beginning to wonder if he actually has a conscience at all.

The truth of the matter is that this happens to be the best of times and the worst of times. When times get a little bumpy or rough folks retreat back into the old patterns of the the past. Selfpreservation,me first and damn what anyone thinks. Its always safer to retreat into yourself life we all usually do. Most of us are indifferent to most things in life unless it affects us as an individual or it is something that stirs the passion inside of us all. We have stumbled into a place where it takes each and everyone of us to step outside of ourselves for the better good of all of us. We have to be able to reach inside of ourselves and open our minds and hearts to something that has been never seen before. We have the first African American who is at this very moment the favorite to win the democratic presidential nomination. On the other hand we have the first woman in the history of this country that also has a legitimate shot of winning the democratic presidential nomination. I never thought that i would see the day that either one would occur in my lifetime let alone happen at the same time. I'm 41 years old and my country is changing and being proved the same at the same exact time. On one hand both canidates have enjoyed the ride that us democrats are on because we are very pleased with both canidates. On the other hand old deep rooted racism always seems to rear its ugly head to stir a stew that was just fine without it. It pits race against race, men against women, friend against friend church against church and so on. Blacks cry out for justice, whites cry out for fairness, hispanics cry out to be heard, and so on.We live our life with blinders on. We only talk about things when they can't be avoided. We don't like looking in the mirror at what we do because all to often we don't like what we see or what we have become. We live life by examining moments and never the whole of anything. we hear rumors or gossip and we spread it ourselves without a moments hesitation whether its true or nor we rely mostly on second and third hand information and thats has become ok to us. How many times have you stepped up to the plate just because and if you know that number you have not done enough. Think about what drives you from within to disliike someone or to tune out your neighbors, friends and some family members. This is an election about our future and the message that we send our children. I don't know what has happened to the adults in this country because I see more integrity in our children. We hang on to anything that roots us in the past. we make excuses for, smoking, not spending time with the kids, spending time with family, not speaking to someone it does'nt matter we are rut based. Protect self first for the good of me. This election process has taught me how mean and cruel folks can be from all sides. It reinforces the notion that we are victims and willing participants of a society that is divided by race, gender, culture, economics and greed. We have a peeking order that is entrenched in the fabric of our society. We don't discuss much to move humanity forward because of the fear of being called racist, homophobic, bigot, or whatever vice that helps keep us from being more humane to eachother. If Obama wins instead of supporting our party folks will be outraged and he will be attacked from our party as well. If Clinton wins she will be attacked and demonized in the press and this will hurt the party as well. I have watched this race proudly at time and at other times I have watched with disgust. I truly feel that both camps have taken cheapshots at eachother but, the Clinton camp has taken this to a low that I have never seen. The Clinton camp is treating Obama as if he were a Republican. They have belittled, lied, distorted, and injected race into the most historic race in the history of this country. I do feel that hillary is a better canidate but the Clinton tactics are disgusting. They say Obama is not qualified for president but at the same time they say he would be a great vice president? They float the idea of a Clinton Obama ticket but they constantly attack and demean him. I'm supporting Hillary with my nose plugged. However, I do feel that she has hurt the pary and it may be beyond repair for her own political gain.

I've been away from my home for three weeks. I was in New Hampshire helping the Edwards campaign, then I went to Michigan for Christmas, then I was in Iowa for the caucus. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work. Sometimes it was an emotional roller coaster. Many things happened during that time, but through it all, one thing never changed: I will support John Edwards through the convention and beyond, no matter what.