Yesterday Senator Obama:

rejected the "broader issue" that he's shifting to the center or flip-flopping. "The people who say this apparently haven't been listening to me,"

This may be true on Iraq where the difference may be in tone and setting.

It may also be true on Guns where Obama stated earlier that he believed in an individual right to a gun but that D.C.'s law was Consistent with that. The focus was on the latter in the Primaries.   Now he ignores the second part of his earlier statements and focuses on the former.

This is Clintonian. It is really good!
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There is another issue that has a little room to maneuver but not much.  

Obama in a debate supported a school's decision to teach a gay love story to second graders called" "king and king"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story .php?storyId=5366521

Over the past few weeks, Senator Obama has made an effort to appeal to middle America. I expect Senator Obama to have to move to the center on the issue of Gay Rights also. This will be necessary for a variety of reasons but especially because of a debate performance in 2007. There, Obama endorsed both explicity and implicity, Sen. Edwards' comments about it being proper for second graders to read/discuss a gay love story. In fact, Edwards went further and said he didn't feel it was his place to "impose" his views of right/wrong on his kids.

Newsflash to both Edwards/Obama: Parents are absolutely supposed to "impose" their views of right/wrong on kids. They are too young to know for themselves. They need protection. This is the bedrock of parent/children relationships. Also, we don't believe in letting schools decide moral issues, but rather parents deciding for their families. Interestingly if you read the entire transcript, Hillary Clinton was the closest of the 3 main contenders to realize how ridiculous they all sounded, though she too tried to pander to the left, albeit with a somewhat muted tone.
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From September 26,2007 Democratic Candidates debate

Here's a question that was initially asked of John Edwards, and then forwarded to both Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama (the 3 leading candidates at the time):

KING: Thanks, Tim.The issues surrounding gay rights have been hotly debated here in New England. For example, last year some parents of second-graders in Lexington, Massachusetts, were outraged to learn their children's teacher had read a story about same-sex marriage, about a prince who marries another prince. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts but most of you oppose it. Would you be comfortable having this story read to your children as part of their school curriculum?

John Edwards' answer is important because Obama references it, so here is Edwards
(my bold):

EDWARDS: Yes, absolutely. What I want is I want my children to understand everything about the difficulties that gay and lesbian couples are faced with everyday, the discrimination that they're faced with every single day of their lives.

EDWARDS: And I suspect my two younger children, Emma Claire,who's 9, and Jack, who's 7, will reach the same conclusion that mydaughter Cate, who's 25, has reached, which is she doesn't understand why her dad is not in favor of same-sex marriage. And she says her generation will be the generation that brings about the great change in America on that issue.So I don't want to make that decision on behalf of my children.I want my children to be able to make that decision on behalf ofthemselves, and I want them to be exposed to all the information, evenin -- did you say second grade? Second grade might be a little tough,but even in second grade to be exposed to all...

KING: Well, that's the point. It is second grade.

EDWARDS: ... those possibilities, because I don't want to impose my view. Nobody made me God. I don't get to decide on behalf of myfamily or my children, as my wife Elizabeth has spoken her own mind onthis issue. I don't get to impose on them what it is that I believe is right.

EDWARDS: But what I will do as president of the United States is I will lead an effort to make sure that the same benefits that areavailable to heterosexual couples -- 1,100 roughly benefits in thefederal government -- are available to same-sex couples; that we getrid of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act; that we get rid of "don'task/don't tell," which is wrong today and was wrong when it wasenacted back in the 1990s.I will be the president that leads a serious effort to deal withthe discrimination that exists today.

KING: Thank you.Senator Obama, you have young children at home. How do you feel about this?

OBAMA: You know, I feel very similar to John. You know, the fact is my 9-year-old and my 6-year-old I think are already aware that there are same-sex couples. My wife and I have talked about it. One of the things I want to communicate to my children is not to be afraidof people who are different, because there have been times in ourhistory where I was considered different, or Bill Richardson wasconsidered different.

OBAMA: And one of the things I think the next president has todo is to stop fanning people's fears. If we spend all our time feeding the American people fear and conflict and division, then they become fearful and conflicted and divided. And if we feed them hope and we feed them reason and tolerance,then they will become tolerant and reasonable and hopeful. And that I think is one of the most important things that thenext president can do, is try to bring us together, and stop trying tofan the flames of division that have become so standard in ourpolitics in Washington. That's the kind of experience, by the way,that we need to put an end to.

KING: Quickly, have you sat down with your daughters to talkabout same-sex marriage?

OBAMA: My wife has.

KING: She has. OK.
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Notice how both Edwards and Obama tried to switch the topic to "discrimination" and "toleration" rather than what the question was about: "acceptance" as a normal way of life in the public school curriculum whether you as a parent agree/disagree. I will be shocked at the Republican ineptitude if they don't identify this and magnify it for what it is: an example of left-wing elitism trying to supplant the traditional moral values of middle America. In addition, the idea that parents shouldn't be the controlling force but rather school boards and others is utterly objectionable

Not much to add to this news. Have at it.

John Edwards said Tuesday that if he were asked to accept the vice presidential slot or a cabinet position in a potential Barack Obama administration, he would "seriously consider" whatever the Illinois senator asked him to do.

It has been widely reported that the former North Carolina senator is on Obama's vice presidential shortlist. On Tuesday, NPR interviewer Guy Raz called the former Democratic presidential candidate's presence on the list an "open secret," and asked Edwards whether he'd weigh accepting a vice presidential offer, or might take himself out of consideration as Virginia Senator Jim Webb had done Monday.

"I'm glad to hear that's an open secret because I didn't know it," joked Edwards of his rumored consideration as Obama's running mate.

"My answer to that is, I've run for vice president, I've run for president twice. I would do anything that I felt I could do to serve this country but I think it's a huge presumption for me or anybody else to suggest what Senator Obama may decide," he said.

McCain's Ad "Love" shows hippies kissing and him in Vietnam. The theme being his love of country has always come before self love.

How does his divorce fit this claim of continual sacrifice and self service?

Today an article was published about his divorce with an interview with his x-wife, Carol.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/articl e-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously -left-behind.html

Ok.. call me concern troll.. or watever you would like to call me.. but I hope senator Obama dissuades himself from appearing like an elitist. Mocking americans will not take you very far senator. I hope you learn that lesson earlier than later. We have done more with just our English language as mode of communication than any other country has achieved over past century. dont tell us what we have to do.. and please dont fall into this trap of being an alitist.. I totally understand your "exotic" upbringing and your supersmart acumen and applaud you for that. But please dont lose this election by making rookie mistakes. dont make americans look inferior to Europeans, especially French.

this election is not about you senator, this election is about civil liberties which have been stomped over by bush administration, this election is about womens right to choose, this election is about supreme court which is just one vote away from turning ultra conservative.. this election is about our soldiers who are sacrificing their lifes for purpose of satisfying bush's and cheneys ego.. this election is about affordable healthcare for every man, woman and child of the country.. this election is about compassionate immigration reform.. so much rests on your shoulder senator.. please dont call fellow americans ignorant or inferior compared to either mexicans or europeans.. we have done more as a country than what they could all do as a continent..

now go on and start bashing this concern troll!

Now that Iraq's PM is demanding a US pull out time table it would be interesting to see how Sen McCain and the Bushes spin this after years of saying If Iraq wanted us to leave we will leave... intriguing. Since PM Nuri al-Maliki is now calling what appears to be Bushes, the repugs and McSame's bluff.  Sit back and enjoy peeps...

McCain, Obama at odds over Iraqi withdrawal demand

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5icMg 7uJLrzdcOx0lcwi9lv2TA9LQ

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Iraq's hardening demand for a pullout deadline for US troops on Tuesday sent shockwaves through the White House campaign, putting Republican hopeful John McCain on the defensive.
McCain, who says it is too early to leave Iraq, said US pull-backs must be dictated by security conditions, after Democrat Barack Obama said the Iraqi government now shared his desire for a timetable for withdrawals.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that Iraq was seeking such an arrangement in talks with Washington on the future US force structure in the country.

Adam Serwer of the National Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has written an important piece of afrosphere history about Black bloggers demands to be included in the state blog corps that will cover  the 2008 Democratic National Convention.  He quoted or cited and linked a number of members of the afrosphere, including L.N. Rock (African American Political Pundit), Pam Spaulding (PamsHouseBlend), Gina McCauley (What About Our Daughters?), Oliver Willis, Liza Sabater (of Culture Kitchen) and the Francis L. Holland Blog.

One aspect of the article I found very interesting was the juxtaposition between the Black bloggers demanding inclusion and the opinion of Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga, asserting that we are not included because we don't deserve to be included:

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, who founded the popular liberal blog DailyKos, rebuffs bloggers who allege the meeting deliberately excluded bloggers of color, describing the blogosphere as "about as close to a meritocracy as you can get," adding "while there are accomplished bloggers of color in the netroots ... too many bloggers are quick to use their sex or race to demand access that they may not necessarily merit based on what they've built." Moulitsas, who is Latino, declined an invitation to the Clinton meeting.  PBS.ORG

This portends a struggle that will become increasingly obvious to Black bloggers and to the mainstream white media, between Black blogs and our readers demanding our inclusion, while white bloggers like big (white) dog of the whitosphere, Moulitsas Zúñiga, offer excuse after excuse why Blacks need not and should not be included at all.

This will play itself out at the Democratic National Convention as well as in the staffing of the Obama campaign and the Obama Administration that will be inaugurated next January.  Are Blacks to be excluded because whites are better than us (according to white criteria as applied by white judges),  or are Blacks to be included because we are 20% of the Democratic Party, we aare more loyal Democrats than are whites, and we refuse to allow ourselves to excluded?

Remember my definition of the "white male supremacy paradigm":

White male supremacy is the conviction that white males, no matter how much and how often they fail, are still inherently superior to women and Blacks, no matter how much and how often we succeed.

More than half of whites voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, while 90% of Blacks voted against him.  So all of the whiteroots new-media "progressive" liberal  efforts to convince the white public are trying desperately to achieve half the level of commitment to the Democratic Party that Blacks have maintained consistently at least since 1968.  White progressives fail over and over again, and yet they think they have achieved more than Blacks have.

 

What happened to Jerome Armstrong and Natasha Chart?  Haven't seen anything from Natasha in quite some time; we could use less water-carrying on the front page.

Articles titled "Obama Donors Aren't Rushing to Aid Clinton" to be published in tomorrow's New York Times are probably not too helpful to the cause of unity at this time.  I have no idea why one of Obama's donors, who wished to remain anonymous, decided to show some snoopy NYT reporter the e-mails he had received in response to his plea to other Obama donors that they help Hillary with her debt.  Read the article yourself:
http://nytimes.com/2008/07/09/us/politic s/09debt.html

So, Obama donors have only coughed up around $100,000, excluding pledge amounts, to Hillary's debt.  I thought that the number would be around $500,000 by now but then again, there's a lot of juicy stuff in the article, probably by people with an axe to grind because none of these people should be disclosing these details to some scumbag reporter looking for a story.

Donors from both sides should probably learn how to shut up and keep their inner bitterness to themselves rather than expressing it to the press; they should take a page from their respective candidates.  Obama donors should ask themselves what more do they want out of Hillary Clinton and Clinton donors should probably ask themselves what more do they want Obama to do about her debt, considering that he has to raise money for himself at the same time.  

Everyone says its common for the winner to help out the runner-usp with their debt; I'd like someone to find out how much John McCain has helped out Rudy Guiliani or Mitt Romney with their debt.

because we all need a break.

because we all need to have fun.

because we all need to smile.

because we all need to laugh.

because we all need to cry.

because the world is big.

because the world is small.

because sometimes we just need to just say fuck it, and dance.