Say No to Sycophantism

i just heard hrc say that she's hoping for a 3-point shot at the buzzer.
somebody ought to let her know she needs a 150-point shot at the buzzer,
which is why a lot of people in the party are exasperated with her at this
point.

Anybody who thinks sexism is a more pervasive problem and a larger handicap
in a run for the presidential nomination than racism, I present to you the
great state of West Virginia. White Female candidate: 67%. Big-city Black
male candidate: 26%. Overall rural white electorate: close to 100%. Adding,
while I agree that not every single vote cast for Hillary Clinton in W.VA
was a vote cast against the "black candidate", a large portion of the
electorate who voted for Hillary said they would rather vote for McCain in
the general. Make of that what you will.

"Whatever the Chicago headquarters was unveiling to win immediate contests,
it always had a separate operation setting up organizations in the states
that were next. As far back as Feb. 21, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe
was spotted in Raleigh, N.C. He told the News & Observer that the state's
primary, then more than 10 weeks away, "could end up being very important in
the nomination fight." At the time, the idea seemed laughable."

worth a full read:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1738331,00.html

my state makes me proud today.

i think when ppl will look at the NC race retrospectively, early voting will
be seen as a huge differentiator. on campus here at UNC we had the last day
of undergrad exams today, and that could definitely have depressed the
turnout, but the key was that we had been doing GOTV on campus for the past
2 WEEKS, and pretty much 99% of the people who had any likelihood of voting
voted over these 2 weeks. excellent stuff.

drop out now hillary, before you have to declare personal bankruptcy for
self-funding your campaign!

results: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#NC

"I was wrong. Lanny Davis isn't a tool, or even the biggest tool. He's the
biggest frackin' moron in the history of the universe. What a lying sack of
shit. It's embarrassing."
-markos

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/6/223721/0592/65/510463

if you're in NC or IN, go vote.

this time via next-6-months-in-iraq-friedman-unit Tom Friedman:

"A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York's Kennedy Airport to
Singapore. In J.F.K.'s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit.
Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore's ultramodern airport, with
free Internet portals and children's play zones throughout. We felt, as we
have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If
all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station today
with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we
were the ones who lost World War II"

src: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04friedman.html?hp

I've often talked with friends about differences between developed and
developing countries being on a slow but steady march to non-existence. This
is why:

"Hospitals are adopting a policy to improve their finances: making medical
care contingent on upfront payments. Typically, hospitals have billed people
after they receive care. But now, pointing to their burgeoning bad-debt and
charity-care costs, hospitals are asking patients for money before they get
treated."

In most developing countries [india, for example], health insurance is
non-existent. Government-run "charity" hospitals are infamous for low
standards of care, while many high-end private hospitals are better than
most community hospitals you will find even here in the US. Every private
hospital demands payment up-front before admitting a patient, regardless of
the patient's condition. This practice has always seemed pretty barbaric to
us here in the "developed" world, but is standard fare for locals. Now it
seems it's slowly cropping up in our "developed" and "industrialized"
country. Shame.

src: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120934207044648511.html?mod=djemHL

"Party of Denial
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Barack Obama is doing more harm to the Democratic cause by echoing
Republican attack lines on issues such as insurance mandates and Social
Security."

He writes about Obama in the NYT. He writes about HRC re: gas tax on his
blog. Guess where the readership is higher?

"All we need to do is to post signs and position manned trucks at key
points, just like our government does at Area 51, the top secret military
airfield in remote central Nevada, around which there are no fences or
walls. There is never a breach or unwanted border crossing there, at least
that we hear about! And why? Because the boundary sign reads and is never
questioned, "Warning: Use of deadly force authorized."

src: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62753

saying:
"Andrew said in his letter that he is switching his support because "a vote
for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to
continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."

Amen.