My son Gabe (Gabro) just turned 2 years old on Friday. In the last two years, his mother and I have been blessed with the fact that he has been healthy, playful, social, and loving. For those who have had the chance to spend even a small amount of time with him, I think they can agree that those are just a few of his overall characteristics. We are also blessed to know that he loves NPR in the car, has his own "Daddy's lil Democrat" tshirt, has had "Lefty" the beanie baby donkey in his crib/bed since he was born, and understands the necessity to severely limit Fox News in the household he tends to spit up when watching it) :)
Like many other people, I was outraged by the decision of New Yorker editor David Remnick to publish Barry Blitt's now-infamous Michelle & Barack Obama cover illustration last week. But my response will not be to cancel my subscription. A subscription cancellation may not seem like a decision requiring a lot of thought in the grand scheme of things, but to me, it's a fairly big deal.
Barack Obama's planned campaign rally and speech in Berlin on Thursday is roiling the German political class, reports Der Spiegel (article in German). Authorities in Berlin are preparing for a million spectators, which would instantly make Obama's speech the biggest political event in that country since unification in 1990. There are even plans to close down the street, a mile long, and replicate the setup during the World Cup with massive projection screens. Inevitably with a political earthquake of this magnitude, there's some controversy stoked by conservatives.
Obama will be speaking on the eastern side of the Victory Column - the Siegessäule - a monument to the Prussian victories in the wars of unification that preceded Bismarck's establishment of the Second Empire. The speech itself will be focused on the Trans-Atlantic relationship and give a preview of the foreign policy approaches of an Obama administration towards our NATO allies.
As many pundits have pointed out, Barack Obama surely must be too arrogant to be president.
It is easy to see this in action: one only has to visit the Obama campaign website to see bumper stickers for sale with his name on them, transcripts of Obama speeches, fawning photos of the senator with his family, and other shocking behaviors.
He speaks to large crowds, instead of carefully selecting supporters for a "town hall" style discussion.
It even appears that he may be running for president because he is cocky enough to believe that he would make a good one. Or even that America's days of greatness may not be all in the past.
As a public service, I have attempted to lay out the areas in which this unbridled arrogance and self-confidence can be dangerous for the country:
There's been some discussion here recently that versus trying to point out why we are supporting Senator Obama we should talk more about why we're not supporting Senator McCain. So, I thought I'd start off with WHY I'm not supporting Senator McCain and see if I can do a series of posts that will continue to point out all of the reasons (and they're numerous!). Follow me below the fold.
Planned Parenthood said the ad is being aimed at women voters, and will be broadcast during the season premiere of "Project Runway," on Bravo, Lifetime’s "Army Wives," and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in some markets. It will air in battleground states, including Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin, as well as in the Washington, D.C. area.
This diary is about how far John McCain went to cover up a serious family scandal.
This diary is not about the underlying scandal. It is not about the family member who was implicated. That family member is not running for office. What he or she did is irrelevant to learning how John McCain might exercise his responsibilities as President.
All we need to know is that there was a scandal, it was serious, and there was a whistleblower. John McCain had the story spun to his liking in the media and had the whistleblower destroyed.
Some of you will already know, or be able to discover, the roots of this story. I am leaving them out intentionally and beg you to do the same. Whatever salacious backstory exists merely distracts from the critical issue: how -- and how well -- John McCain may cover up scandals as President. If some smart-ass raises those facts in comments, I will either hide-rate or ignore them; I ask that you do the same. Again: this diary is not about any underlying offense, but about a cover-up.
So, I beg your cooperation. Let's keep this diary about John McCain ... and Tom Gosinski, whose life he hired agents to ruin -- with evident success.
The emphasis is mine. Plus, despite the questionable post-waterboarding Maliki retraction released by ...wait till you hear this... CENTCOM, SPIEGEL stands by its reporting of the story, which it adds, has been published by several Iraqi news orgs and has not been contested even in the "government-affiliated" Iraqi press. Der SPIEGEL bleibt jedoch bei seiner Darstellung.
There has been some buzz about the possibility of Senator Obama keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense should he become the 44th President of these United States. The buzz was natural as a result of the huge contrasts between former Secretary Rumsfeld's tenure and that of Secretary Gates. It also helps that Secretary Gates actually shares a lot of the same world-views as Senator Obama. I'm in agreement with former Secretary of the Navy, Richard Danzig;
"My personal position is Gates is a very good secretary of defence and would be an even better one in an Obama administration."
With the economy in a "slump" more and more people are finding themselves unable to pay their debt. When people can't pay their debts, the debt collectors start calling. If you have been getting calls from debt collectors it is important to know your rights. Most people do not know their rights and debt collectors will use that to their advantage.
Below the fold you will find five things that you MUST know when dealing with debt collectors.
The 2008 Democratic Presidential ticket, burnished with a former U.S. Naval Admiral -- Admiral Fallon is more conciliating than I would like him to be, but...
"There is a fierce behind-the-scenes battle for influence over presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama's Hispanic and Latin American agenda,"
and some Democratic strategists say that its outcome could determine the result of the November elections.
Some Obama backers in South Florida, in particular, are especially miffed at what they see as excessive power by labor-union-tied, left-leaning Mexican-American leaders at Obama's Chicago headquarters over the campaign's nationwide Hispanic and Latin American policy strategies.
In a confidential July 4 memo sent to 25 prominent South Florida Hispanics, former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre -- well respected in nationwide Democratic circles [sic] -- called for creation of a ''South Florida Hispanic policy advisory group'' to counterbalance what he perceives as excessive micro-management of state campaigns by Obama's Chicago headquarters.
I have just received an important clarification from CentCom regarding remarks that I made in my diary yesterday about John McCain. It seems as though there was a misinterpretation and misunderstanding, so this necessary update and clarification was issued a few moments ago.
Please note the following changes in bold and/or strikethrough from the original comments that were "purportedly made" by me:
I've been doing this in the comments and now it's time to do it as a diary.
Leave. John. McCain. Alone.
He's not even the nominee yet and we don't want to risk any chance he might not be. It's up to us to stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. More below the fold.
Sometimes it’s instructive to revisit recent history to bring an issue into focus.
In February 2004, just 14 days after he became the Mayor, Gavin Newsom announced that the City of San Francisco would start marrying same-sex couples. The news sent shockwaves through California as happy couples lined up to get their marriage licenses. It’s interesting to take a look back at what Newsom had to say at the time.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Sunday he is willing to sacrifice his political career over his belief that denying gay men and lesbians the right to marry "is wrong and inconsistent with the values this country holds dear."
"I think we're on firm legal footing and legal grounds, and certainly I believe very strongly and passionately we're on the right moral ground," Newsom said on CNN's "Late Edition." [...]
