Where is Hillary on FISA?  Her leadership in the Senate on this issue would be a perfect vindication for all who supported her.  It strikes me that the perfect coordination of presidential ambitions would be for Hillary to organize and lead opposition to this FISA debacle while Barak seriously and vocally supports her.  

What say you Hillary fans?  Barak fans?  Isn't this why people supported her to be the President -- to lead us to a new place of lawfulness and integrity?

What say you?!

How close are we to this?

Photo credit: Bettmann-Corbis

Are we becoming aware that we are heading towards or already going down this path?

Will Obama pull us back or will he continue down this path while blinding us with beautiful words? This is not a slam against Obama, it is just a thought of what could be if he ends up being no better then most of our past presidents.

We need a true leader who will look to the past for what we as a country have done right and what we have done wrong. A leader who will draw inspiration from our Declaration Of Independence, our United States Constitution and our Bill Of Rights. A leader who will say FUCK YOU to the neo-cons, the religious zealots, the corporatist and the fascist!

We need a leader who won't govern in their first term like they are trying to protect themselves for a second term. We need this leader to put We The People FIRST... Always First!

I want this leader to be Barack Obama.

At times, I really feel we are at the beginning of the end of this country as we have known it. That there is no way to stop this, unless We The People truly WAKE UP!

My rant was inspired by the following Newsweek article:
The Mythology of Munich

We have all witnessed Senator Clinton the fighter, I'm frankly amazed that anyone who has experienced such a battle can still be standing and smiling. I actually admire Senator Clinton more than I did before because of her endurance and passion. So as an Obama supporter I predict in the next few days that we will experience what a class act Senator Clinton is. These battles are personal and hurtful and God only knows what some of these attacks must feel like but again I predict Senator Clinton will pivot and start attacking Senator McCain with gusto because she knows she's a Democrat and she knows the Republicans will be so disappointed to see a unified party. My hat is off to Senator Clinton and I will be honored to be fighting beside her to make our country greater. She has made our party so much stronger and I Thank her now. She will come out of this looking great and with much more influence to help our country. Thank God for Senator Clinton she will unify us and with that we will destroy Senator McCain and the Republican party.

It's No Wonder Michelle Calls Him Stinky!

Cross posted at: Pagan Power

As everyone knows, we are in a recession. The price of food has gone up dramatically. In fact there is a world wide shortage of food. Home sales are at historic lows. Foreclosures have skyrocketed. Jobs are being lost at an extraordinary rate. And the price of gasoline has gone up incredibly. Ordinary Americans are having to choose whether to fill up the tank or fill their bellies. Literally. And two brave politicians have bucked their parties offering a federal gas tax holiday throughout the summer to help out a little, especially to those in greatest need. John McCain first made this proposal but he refused to pay for it, driving us further into debt. Hillary embraced McCain's proposal but did did the responsible thing and required that the measure be paid for. Senator Obama has adamantly opposed this proposal. He has stated on numerous occasions that this is a gimmick that won't really help anyone. And the elite he is, he mocked the small savings that people would experience. Not exactly the compassion that we need in a leader. Especially to the least fortunate that live day to day. Senator Obama claimed that he has tried all this before and therefore he knows it is a gimmick. In fact when he was an Illinois Senator he voted to suspend the State gas tax three times. But he reached the conclusion afterward that it didn't actually help anyone. But Senator Obama was wrong.

Obama is wrong about the gas tax

In fact, the only scientific study done on the pass-through of the tax holiday savings to Illinois consumers (and those in Indiana, as well, whose citizens enjoyed a similar holiday) found that it actually worked to a large extent.

The authors concluded that "the suspension of the 5% sales tax led to decreases in retail prices of 3%
compared to neighboring states. And when the tax was reinstated, retail prices rose by roughly 4%."

This suggests that the tax holiday delivered at least 60 percent of the tax savings to motorists.

This report: $2.00 GAS! STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF A GAS TAX MORATORIUM is the only one actually done on the gas tax holiday and it proves conclusively that the holiday BENEFITED the citizens of Illinois. So it seems that Senator Obama isn't curious (like George Bush) enough to actually investigate the results of his actions. Or he is the one using a gimmick to hoodwink voters into believing that something his opponent proposes won't benefit them when according to the actual science, it will.

Cross posted at Pagan Power

There has been much made out of Hillary's oft repeated claim that she is the person best suited to be President on Day One. It is a standard line in her stump speeches. But the Obama campaign and it's surrogates have distorted the meaning of the line implying instead that this is a negative attack on the qualifications of Senator Obama. The original 3 am phone call ad was considered by the anti-Hillary crowd as implying this very thing. But let us examine the facts, shall we? Just what is it that makes Hillary so absolutely certain she is the person best prepared to be Ready on Day One?

Hillary's recent ad Kitchen is a case in point. Her detractors state that Hillary is playing the terror card. In fact, just yesterday DNC official Donna Brazile alluded to this on This Week. But upon examination of the ad it is clear that Hillary only brings up situations that many Presidents have faced in the past,  situations more than very likely to confront our next President. This is not playing the terror card. It is being realistic about the awesome responsibilities of the presidency and the real dangers that exist within this world we must lead.

Have a look.

You wanna know what is not a good idea? I'll tell you- listening to the prognostications of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean. Lest we forget, these are the folks that have brought us such wonderful works as "off the table," "how to capitulate and eat your cake too," and let's not forget "this amazingly well organized primary." The lack of actual leadership these three supposed leaders have shown over the last few years has been absolutely unbelievable. Just in case you have forgotten, let me give you a refresher:

Here's one where Reid and Pelosi thought it was a good idea to allow the administration to extend the troops' tours of duty.

Here is one where Nancy thought it was a good idea to completely derail any hopes of impeaching the criminal Bush.

And here is one where Howard thought it was a good idea to well... just not lead on settling FL and MI.

Repeat: it is NOT a good idea to listen to these folks concerning acts of leadership. We put them in place to lead this party and they have failed.

This is not a candidate diary, we all know that our supposed party leaders have their own, separate dogs in this fight. This is a get real diary. This is a stop the madness and quit propping up every word that these supposed leaders have to say about things. I think they have forgot that all of us are over their type of leadership and we are now looking elsewhere...

Please, do not take this as a totalistic indictment of Howard Dean. I am and always have been a Deaniac, but he has failed to lead this entire primary cycle

In response to a comment I made on another diary I was asked the question that is the title of this one.  I started to reply and then realized that this needs to be a diary of its own.

As a matter of fact, I was an enthusiastic Obama supporter for over two years.  His speech at the 2004 Democratic convention blew my spouse and me away.  I couldn't wait to vote for this man.  Here, I thought, is a true leader and we will see him lead us through the next four years.  I even told all my friends and family that this man should be the next President of the United States.

I was wrong.  Here is why.  

Yet another call for youth to save the planet.

Is it just me, or does that sound like the most lazy, annoying cop out ever? Consider:

... But young people are not cynical or jaded like many adults. They believe they can truly make a difference - and they can. ...

This may be true. It had better be true. And the reason it had better be true is because the people who say it have too often given up. So who else is going to do it?

It's deeply frustrating to me to to hear someone with 20-30 years worth of professional experience, social networking, capital accumulation and political influence say that what they're really waiting on is for a bunch of people with none of those advantages to come do what they couldn't manage. In the same vein, I know that leading figures in many activist issue camps, whether elected officials or NGO staff, hope that young people, or bloggers, or 'local' activists, really, anyone else, will get out and start rocking the boat so it doesn't have to be them. I've heard some version of this conversation too many times.

So, yes it would definitely be nice if the young people manage to fix the climate problem, and we should try, as should everyone else. It would be great if bloggers could manage all by ourselves to push the boundaries of debate and give cover to NGOs with large staffs and research budgets, or to elected officials with ready access to establishment media megaphones. But hey, a little help, that would make everything go better, right?

Yet time and again, the people who've been designated as leaders by the electoral process or getting high level promotions within powerful organizations so often fail to be out in front on important issues like global warming. They come over all Whitney Houston, with the "I believe the children are our future," (and we sang that song at my 6th grade graduation, to my enduring irritation) and defer actions to some shining white knights of the future whom they fantasize will take the reins when they're retired or whatever. Thing is, we absolutely don't have time for this nonsense, but I thought it might be useful to explore some possible reasons for it.