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You know, according to the DNC election rules decided before the primary season began, it is clear that absolutely NO Florida and Michigan delegates should have been given voting rights in the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. In fair elections, you don’t change the rules of the elections in the middle of an election in order to benefit one candidate or another. To the extent that the DNC through its Rules & Bylaws Committee did change the rules in the middle of an election today, the change in the rules benefited Hillary Clinton, giving her a margin of 24 more delegates than she was supposed to get under the rules of the election.

Yes, Hillary Clinton got a margin of 24 more delegates than she was supposed to get under the rules of the election. The rules of the election were changed in the middle of the election to the benefit of Hillary Clinton. The Barack Obama campaign actually had the votes to get a better delegate deal for their candidate, but they declined to do, going for a rule change that benefited Hillary Clinton to give her campaign the benefit of the doubt instead.

But because changing the rules of the election in the middle of the election didn’t benefit Hillary Clinton as much as Clinton supporters wanted, the insider Clinton supporters in the room:

* Started chanting “McCain ‘08! McCain ‘08!”
* Engaged in physical violence, shoving an Obama supporter.

Let me be blunt:

Barack Obama was not my first choice for president in this election cycle. He was not my second choice for president in this election cycle. Yet, my first two choices did not receive the level of support in votes or delegates necessary for my first two choices to win the presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton has not received the level of support in votes or delegates necessary for her to win the nomination. I’m not being a “hater” to say this. I’m saying what is true. Hillary Clinton is going to lose the nomination because she hasn’t won as many votes or delegates as Barack Obama. Get a grip on that fact.

If you are willing to support John McCain because your favored candidate has not won as many votes or delegates as another candidate, that means you are supporting a candidate:

* who calls his wife a “cunt”
* who has promised to take away a woman’s right to choose
* who says that pay discrimination by gender doesn’t really exist
* who has promised to appoint authoritarian Supreme Court justices that will take away Americans’ civil rights
* who has voted repeatedly to gut the Constitution,
* whose campaign is staffed with scores of corporate lobbyists
* who sings with a smile about bombing Iran
* who says it would be a good idea to keep American soldiers in Iraq for a hundred years

… and who has done or promises to do about forty other especially vile things to our nation.

If you’re willing to support such a person for president because your first pick didn’t win the nomination, then you’re certainly not a progressive. You’re not a liberal. You’re not a democrat, not even in the small-d sense of the word. You’re willing to support a right-wing authoritarian who promises to put sexist, trigger-happy, lobbyist-smooching policy into action. If you’re willing support a candidate who will do that because your preferred candidate hasn’t gotten and isn’t going to get the votes or delegates necessary to win the nomination, then you are unhinged.

And if you’re willing to shove other people because your preferred candidate hasn’t gotten and isn’t going to get the votes or delegates necessary to win the nomination, then you are violent.

I understand the frustration at not having one’s preferred candidate win a nomination. It’s happened to me twice this past year. I have no problem with frustration. I have no problem with anger. I have no problem with people who articulate criticism and dissent. I have a problem with unhinged irrational behavior and violence.

It is my hope that people who are so unhinged and violent in shifting into support from Hillary Clinton to John McCain are few.

But if there are enough unhinged and violent people willing to throw their support from Hillary Clinton to John “My Wife is a Cunt” McCain because their preferred candidate didn’t win enough votes or delegates to be nominated, if there are enough of these unhinged and violent people to make John McCain actually win the election in November, and if you are one of these people, then don’t expect me to reason with the likes of you. Don’t expect me to try to sway you with rational, logical argument, because clearly you have left your rationality and logic behind. All I have to say to such people is this:

Don’t come moaning to me when you get exactly the country you deserve.

They have been calling themselves supporters of Hillary Clinton. Are they really? Have they ever been?

After hearing the result of the vote of the Democratic Party Rules and Bylaws Committee, which gave a very generous compromise between the requests of the Clinton campaign and the committee’s own original decision, people who had identified themselves as supporters of Hillary Clinton began chanting,

“McCain! McCain! McCain! McCain! McCain!”

Is Hillary Clinton the kind of candidate who attracts people that would rather support the terrible right-wing policies of John McCain than the progressive policies of Barack Obama, or are these supposed hard-core Hillary Clinton activists really just plants from the Republican Party?

The representative from Hillary Clinton dropped a bombshell before the Democratic Party Rules and Bylaws Committee: “One final word: Mrs. Clinton has instructed me to reserve the right to take this to the credentials committee.”

Chants and cheers, clapping and whooping from Hillary Clinton supporters ensued. Gavel-pounding for a solid 15 seconds finally stopped their disruption.

“You are dishonoring your candidate when you do this,” they were advised, but the Clinton supporters continued, booing and jeering at representatives of the Barack Obama campaign, trying to shout them down.

The signs all point to this: Hillary Clinton has no intention of supporting Barack Obama when he wraps up the Democratic presidential nomination in the next couple of days.

Elizabeth Smith, member of the Democratic Party Rules and Bylaws Committee, just asked David Bonior a whiz-bang question: Why ever did Barack Obama choose not to put his name on the Michigan presidential primary ballot? Why would Obama decide to do that?

(Psst. Elizabeth Smith just so happens to be a supporter of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.)

Here’s an answer for you, Ms. Smith: the Democratic Party Rules and Bylaws Committee told Barack Obama not to put his name on the ballot. The committee, of which Elizabeth Smith is a member, decided months ago that the Michigan primary would not count at the convention - that the delegates would not be seated.

Why is Elizabeth Smith puzzled that Barack Obama did exactly what her own committee in the Democratic Party told him to do?

Golly me, but why can’t Elizabeth Smith remember what she took part in just a few months ago?

Can you watch the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting taking place right now? Yes you can (that’s a hint - Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic presidential nominee whether Hillary Clinton gets all the Michigan and Florida delegates she wants today or not).

Go over to C-Span There’s a link from the top of the front page.

The feed is a little gimpy, because so many people are trying to watch, but stick with it. There are important arguments being made. Right now, David Bonior, a Michigan Democrat from the Barack Obama presidential campaign is speaking in defense of the interests of Michigan Democrats who did not vote or were not able to vote for the candidate of their choice, because they were told that their votes would not count.

“This was not a normal primary election, and did not produce a fair reflection” of Democratic voters’ interests.

I don’t have $500 to spare. Times are tough. Chances are that 95 out of 100 people who read this message don’t have $500 spare either.

If you do have $500 to spare, this message is for you.

Consider the state of Ohio. It’s a swing state. It’s got a lot of electoral votes. If a few thousand votes had gone the other way, we’d be talking about the legacy of President Kerry right now.

A significant piece of the population of Ohio lives in or around Columbus, Ohio. Right now, there are multiple AM radio stations broadcasting right-wing venom against progressive political thinking in general and against Barack Obama in particular. There is only one radio station in Columbus, WVKO 1580, that broadcasts progressive talk radio.

And right now, just as the general election season is heating up, WVKO 1580 has announced that it needs $50,000 in the next few weeks or it will have to go off the air.

It’s simple: in the run up to the presidential elections of 2008, do you want central Ohio to have a radio station broadcasting a progressive voice? Or do you want central Ohio to be without any voice on the airwaves to counter the slimy attacks on Barack Obama that are sure to come from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boortz, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter?

If you have the $500 to spare, and if you want to make a difference in the direction of the election, consider making a donation to WVKO 1580.

A great deal of attention is being given to the Democratic presidential nomination battle taking place over the next week. That attention is merited, given the interest in the long political battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. However, there are other Democratic primary battles worth taking note of as well.

One of these is taking place in Iowa, in the third congressional district. There, incumbent Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell is trying to hold onto power against progressive challenger Ed Fallon.

The problem with Leonard Boswell is that he’s spent a lot of time in Congress acting more like a Republican than a Democrat. Representative Boswell has supported the worst aspects of George W. Bush’s extremist political agenda. Back in 2002, Leon Boswell voted in favor of allowing George W. Bush to rush into Iraq without adequate preparation. More recently, Congressman Boswell voted in favor of the ironically-entitled Protect America Act, which actually doesn’t protect America at all, but has given George W. Bush the power to use networks like the Internet to spy against law-abiding American citizens for whatever reason he wants, without anyone to stop him.

Leonard Boswell has done an extremely poor job representing the people of Iowa’s 3rd district. Ed Fallon, on the other hand, has shown the kind of strong political character that Boswell is lacking. While Boswell failed the people of Iowa back in 2002, Ed Fallon stepped forward in the state legislature, and authored a resolution urging George W. Bush not to begin a war in Iraq.

Ed Fallon has the kind of foresight we need more of in Congress. Of course, as someone challenging an incumbent member of Congress, he’s the underdog. We’ll see soon enough if the voters of Iowa’s 3rd district have the intelligence to see beyond name recognition and slick TV ads, and pick the candidate with ability and integrity.

The Democratic primary elections for Iowa’s seats in Congress will be held this coming Tuesday, the same day as the presidential primaries in Montana and South Dakota. You won’t see news of the Fallon vs. Boswell battle on your cable television, of course. That’s okay. Turn the TV off, and head on over to the Des Moines Register Tuesday night, for up to date news of this very important congressional election.

The mainstream news has been busy reporting about how, in South America, a tribe of people described as “uncontacted” by modern civilization has been discovered. In almost the same breath as this tribe is described as “uncontacted”, we’re told that illegal logging is rife in the area. Surely the people in the tribe have come into contact with loggers, so perhaps “uncontacted” means that no governmental official or anthropologists has talked to the people.

The big news media has failed to report, however, that large groups of uncontacted people live right within the United States of America. Although these people live in a democratic nation, they have never registered to vote, remaining out of contact with what’s going on in their local, state and national governments. These Americans remain primitively unaware of relevant political issues of the day, and have never picked up a newspaper or read a political web page. Although they move among modern American citizens who participate in their communities, these people only understand the presidential candidates in terms of personality, being unable to comprehend legislative records or policy positions.

The culture of these politically uncontacted tribes of people living in the United States have a bizarre culture in which television shows such as Dancing With The Stars are regarded as primary sources of news. Tribal warriors frequently are heard ranting about speaking only the English language, spreading strange folktales about Spanish-speaking outsiders, but these folktales do not use standard English grammar and linguistic structures of logic.

Members of these uncontacted tribes have been photographed aiming their television remote controls up at aircraft, demonstrating a kind of technologically animist belief that all objects, including airplanes, contain a TV set somewhere deep within them.

It is not fun to have energy costs rise so high. But there are silver linings. It was not so long ago that used fryer oil was simply dumped out on the sly. Those that worked within the law had to pay to have someone haul it off and dump it for them. Now the used oil is so relatively valuable as a biofuel that restaurant owners not only sell it, they have it stolen from them! This, the substance that used to be considered worthless. Americans are using more sources of energy more efficiently.

On the more rare occasions I do drive I can see the road again. That’s a relief. Just three or four years ago there were so many SUVs and Hummers and Expeditions on the road, insanely wide and tall, that I could not see past them when driving in my itty car. If you have an itty car, I bet you know what I’m talking about. The ginormous vehicles have been disappearing, and I don’t have to drive on blind faith any more.

The clouds are still there, looming big and gray. But there are silver linings as well.

You think that the 2008 presidential candidates have wacky preachers? Let’s go back to the first generations of early Christianity. In the letter of Paul to the Galatians Chapter 3, verse 28, I find:

Far out. According to the preacher Paul, Jesus was in favor of a gender bending one world government.

Was Paul the first transgender preacher? Does the United Nations Illuminati conspiracy to create a North American Union go all the way back to Jesus?

Having a hard time in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Suffering because you lost your job? Struggling because the price of gas makes it unaffordable for you to drive around town? Well, look on the bright side, Joe! Make lemons out of lemonade, Lucinda! If you have to walk or bike around town already, why not turn it into part of new, lucrative professional life…

… that of the political snitch?

That’s right, Joe and Lucinda: The FBI is hiring citizens to infiltrate and spy on legitimate and legal citizen organizations gearing up to protest the Republican Party at the Republican Convention this September. And what better street cred than someone who bikes or walks all around town? Just tell everyone it’s a choice and you’ll be in like Flynn. Sure, you’ll be expanding the reach of authoritarian government and squelching the first amendment rights to free speech and assembly… but at least it’s a job.

Democratic Convention Watch helpfully reports on three proposals to be put forward before the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting on Saturday, May 31.

Barack Obama’s Michigan proposal: 64 delegates to Clinton, 64 delegates to Obama.
Hillary Clinton’s Michigan proposal: 73 delegates to Clinton, 55 delegates to Obama.
The Michigan Democratic Party proposal: 69 delegates to Clinton, 59 delegates to Obama.

The Michigan Democratic Party proposal splits the difference between Obama’s plan and Clinton’s plan.

Let’s assume that outside of the state of Michigan, Hillary Clinton gets everything she wants. This means two things:

1. In the Puerto Rico (55 pledged delegates), South Dakota (13 pledged delegates) and Montana (16 pledged delegates) primary votes to be happening on Sunday and Tuesday, Barack Obama gets only a third of the 84 delegates. 28 delegates for Obama, 56 delegates for Clinton.

This is a completely harebrained result, but let’s go harebrained for Clinton and assume Barack Obama gets blown out of the water with delegates in the remaining primaries.

2. Florida’s 185 pledged delegates would be fully recognized and apportioned according to vote results in the non-sanctioned primary. 121 of those delegates are apportioned according to congressional district results, with 67 delegates to Clinton, 13 delegates to John Edwards, and 41 to Barack Obama. To continue to favor Clinton, let’s have the remaining 64 delegates be apportioned according to the vote result: 33 to Clinton, 9 delegates to John Edwards, and 22 delegates to Barack Obama. The total delegate count would be 100 delegates to Clinton, 22 delegates to John Edwards, and 63 delegates to Barack Obama.

This is also a completely harebrained result, since even Florida is only asking for half its delegates to be seated. But again, let’s go harebrained to give Clinton the benefit of the doubt here. And let’s not even count the John Edwards delegates for Obama, even though Edwards has endorsed Obama. Woo hoo! Craaaazy!

With Michigan and Florida being fully seated, exactly as Hillary Clinton wants, the number of delegates a candidate needs to gain in order to grab the nomination is 2,209. Again, this is if Hillary Clinton gets absolutely everything she wants with Florida and gets huge blowouts in all three remaining states.

As of right now, Barack Obama has 1,982 delegates. As of right now, Hillary Clinton has 1,781 delegates. Adding in the miraculous pro-Clinton results for Florida, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana — but not yet counting Michigan — Barack Obama would have 2,073 delegates and Hillary Clinton would have 1,937 delegates.

Now let’s move on to the Michigan decision, assuming Hillary Clinton gets all she wants in Florida and scores immense blowouts in all three remaining states.

1. If Barack Obama gets what he wants on Saturday, he ends up with 2137 delegates and Hillary Clinton ends up with 2,001 delegates.

2. If the state of Michigan gets what it wants on Saturday, Barack Obama ends up with 2132 delegates and Hillary Clinton ends up with 2006 delegates.

3. If Hillary Clinton gets what she wants on Saturday, Barack Obama ends up with 2128 delegates and Hillary Clinton ends up with 2010 delegates.

Yes, even if Hillary Clinton gets everything she wants with both Michigan and Florida and scores humongous wins in the remaining three state contests, she will still be 118 delegates behind Barack Obama.

With 2,209 delegates to win if Clinton gets everything she wants, 279 delegates will be left to go to the Clinton camp or the Obama camp. Some of these were awarded to Edwards and have to decide what to do, some of these are superdelegates who really should have decided by now, and some of these are “add-on” delegates that are confusingly awarded at state meetings after primaries are done. To win the nomination, Hillary Clinton will have to win 199 of those delegates.

The Bottom Line:

In order to secure the nomination,

Assuming Hillary Clinton wins two-thirds of delegates in all three remaining primaries,
and
Assuming Hillary Clinton gets all the delegates she wants from Michigan,
and
Assuming Hillary Clinton gets all the delegates she wants from Florida,

then she will still have to somehow gain the support of 72 percent of the remaining delegates in order to capture the Democratic presidential nomination.

No, it’s not literally impossible. But even giving her every benefit of the doubt (and then some) at every stage of the process over the next week, Hillary Clinton will still have to perform a Sisyphean task to gain the nomination.

If Barack Obama gets even something close to what he wants in any of the delegate-awarding events over the next week, Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a chance.

A new poll indicates that John McCain leads Barack Obama in Alabama 60 percent to 32 percent.

I say that’s a damned good reason for Americans elsewhere to vote for Barack Obama.

Just think about it - how many times have you heard anyone say, “We ought to try what Alabama did,” or “If only we had listened to Alabama,” or “Why can’t our state be more like Alabama?”

Alabama is not a success story. Alabama’s government has made poor decisions time and again. Alabama’s elected officials have supported failed policies for generations. We all know why most voters in Alabama won’t vote for Barack Obama, and it isn’t because his health care policies are not to their liking.

John McCain is working to profit from the hateful, backwards perspective Alabama represents. That kind of electoral strategy ought not to be rewarded.

The Democratic Party doesn’t need to win a single state in the South to win the White House in 2008. Picking up a little support in the Southwest or the Midwest is all it will take for Obama to win this November.

So, let John McCain have Alabama. The Democratic Party ought not to stoop to try to pick up that kind of filthy prize.