Obama sweeps February 9 Contests

Story here.

Update: Thought this needed a pic. Here's one of a baby playing "got your nose" with Senator Obama. ;)

Also, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is endorsing Obama.

Haloscan comment thread

Is Hillary trying to get Shuster fired? Looks that way.

Here is something from The Politico. A letter she wrote to MSNBC. There is a difference in concern for your daughter and in actually shutting up a station that is trying to get some truth out. Who's next...Keith?

Hillary Rips Shuster

ORONO, MAINE — Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday morning ripped MSNBC over reporter David Shuster’s suggestion that Chelsea Clinton was “sort of being pimped out” by the campaign.

“I found the remarks incredibly offensive,” Clinton told reporters in this snowy town outside Bangor. Earlier, she sent a letter to NBC brass that called for swift action against Shuster, who was suspended Friday by MSNBC.

“Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient,” Clinton wrote to NBC News President Steve Capus, who apparently had already called Clinton to personally apologize.

“I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language,” Clinton wrote. “There’s a lot at stake for our country in this election. Surely, you can do your jobs as journalists and commentators and still keep the discourse civil and appropriate.”

NBC did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

Okay, who wants to pull me down from the ceiling I just hit.

Haloscan comment thread

Overheard at the gym

First, a disclaimer...I would very much prefer not to overhear other people's conversations at the gym. I try to go at least twice a week, three times if I'm lucky, and what I want to do is get in the pool and move. I'm not much of a swimmer, but I used to take water aerobics classes, and now I just go to the pool when I have the opportunity and do "freestyle water aerobics for one". I don't ask for much--I just want my own little spot near a wall where I can just do my thing and tune everybody else out. If conditions are right, that's where I can do some of my best creative thinking. But if people within earshot are having a conversation, then conditions are most definitely not right, and I can't seem tune them out no matter how hard I try.

I was actually in the shower, not the pool, so I couldn't see who was talking, but I had passed some older women on the way to the shower. Several of them--I'm guessing at least three--were having a conversation that I kept catching bits and pieces of...

"I stayed up way too late last night watching the returns."
"So, what do you think?"
"I don't knooow!"
"Well, our governor has endorsed Clinton."
"Boo!"
"I'm not ready for a woman president."
"Me neither."

At this point, I *really* wanted to be able to tune out, because I was afraid I might hear something that would annoy me enough that I'd feel compelled to butt into their discussion. But the water wasn't loud enough to drown them out, so as I finished up my shower, I heard the conversation turn to the subject of women priests, and how one of the women had a friend who is one, but, "something about that is just not right." Also, apparently the women's movement is to blame for "the mess we're in today". Whatever that is.

But I wouldn't be sharing this story with you now, if it didn't have a positive twist. Here it comes. One of the women said (paraphrased)

"I used to think like that. Then my husband left me when I was 40, and I was totally unprepared to support myself. I vowed that I would never again let myself end up in that situation. ... Sometimes your situation changes, and then you change."

I didn't hear what the other women said in response, but inside I was saying "Right on, sister!" Because every day, in small ways we have opportunities to speak up and give the other side of the story. And an alternative perspective, when shared by "someone like you" has a better chance of taking root and possibly, as time goes on, softening (or even changing) some of the judgments people make.

Haloscan comment thread

Nice blog at Huff Post...how Dean begat Obama.

The post is quite true in many ways. The enthusiasm, the involvement, the passion. The willingness to work. Interesting in its comparison.

How Dean Begat Obama

Seeing the crowds of young supporters at Barack Obama rallies, commentators have been trying to locate the precise source of the apparently sudden swell of the "youth vote." It's Facebook! It's a greater focus on students by campaign field operatives! Or maybe the relatively young candidate himself is the cause. But as I watched Super Tuesday returns alongside members of Manhattan Young Democrats and the liberal ACT NOW organization at a packed Irish pub in midtown Manhattan, I got a different answer over and over again: we were engaged years before Obama hit the scene, and we'll be engaged even if he doesn't wind up with the nomination.

.." So when were all these young hardcores formed? Another answer was consistent: many had been "Deaniacs," or supporters of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid."

...."Though the young "Deaniacs" who helped fuel the former Vermont governor's presidential bid did not wind up deciding the 2004 Democratic primary or the general election, Trippi (until recently an adviser to John Edwards) says it was the first presidential cycle since the 60's in which Democrats gave youth participants a sense of ownership. "I think what [youth activists] weren't used to was a campaign saying, 'Here, this is yours, too.' They were used to protesting totally outside any political institution -- whether it was the World Trade Organization protests or anything else -- because no one was giving them something to mold and help shape. And here they had a shot at impacting something, winning and changing things. The Dean campaign was one of those things.

Well, though, of course all of us Deaniacs know who is still first. But if we have to settle, Barack will do.

Thanks, Howard Dean, for the inspiration and hope.



HaloScan Comment Thread

New thread

Talk amongst yourselves.


Haloscan comment thread

Open Thread

Updated election returns can be found here.

This picture, from the Honolulu Star Bulletin, shows Barack Obama with his grandmother in Kenya.



And reflecting another side of the Illinois Senator's roots: Tiny Irish village claims Obama as its own

Haloscan comment thread

An Even MORE Super Tuesday, thanks to Jessica!

Ok, I promised an announcement today, so here it is:

*******************

Breaking News!

******************

The 5th Annual DemocracyFest will be held in Dulles, VA (just outside Washington DC) on August 16-17, 2008.

Tickets will be on sale soon! (Hopefully within the next couple days!)

******************
Jessica Falker | 02.05.08 - 12:58 pm

See more details on this thread (see approx. 4pm)~!
Haloscan comment thread

Super Monday Endorsement!

From the National Nurse Newsletter
February 4, 2008
www.nationalnurse.org

via listener
(who just bought 20 more "I support the National Nurse" buttons for her legislators!) ♥


The National Nursing Network Organization (NNNO) is pleased to announce the endorsement of the International Parish Nurse Resource Center to establish an Office of the National Nurse. Our gratitude goes out to Reverend Dr. Deborah L. Patterson, Barbara Wehling, RN, PhD and the 12,000 parish nurses in the United States for their support and for the great work they contribute in helping to keep so many Americans well. Dr. Patterson refers to the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH), who endorsed The Office of the National Nurse initiative in April 2007. You may visit the NIGH website: http://www.nightingaledeclaration.net/ and join the thousands who have signed the Nightingale Pledge https://www.nightingaledeclaration.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=18

HAVE to add a Dean photo with Nurse Teri in it! (on the right with big smile):

Gee, and there I was thinking of posting a Mundane Monday thread,
so we could all catch our breaths between yesterday and tomorrow. LOL!

XOXOXXX listener


Haloscan comment thread

There's some major sporting event today, right?

Oh yeah, today is Puppy Bowl Sunday!

The intro piece above is from last year's festivities.

And something completely different. Demetrius and I laughed out loud at some of these...
The 9 Manliest Names in the World

Haloscan comment thread

Religion editor suggests "opt-out" option for evolution.

I suspect part of this is a tongue in cheek given to the religious community, part in a serious vein. The last sentence seems rather to say to the religious minded that they should stop holding back progress. There is a movement here in Florida especially in the Southern Baptist churches to urge parents to remove their children from publics schools which obey the state rules in teaching the new standards.

Our society is used to conscientious objection to all sorts of things. It is an accommodation we have made in the public square for military service, for sex education, for medical treatment in some cases. We should allow those whose beliefs clash with this teaching of modern science to exempt their children on the same grounds.

It's not a perfect solution, but it would allow society to move forward.

I have read a lot of his work, and I think he is rather upset with those who simply deny science. I think he knows that fellowship well enough to know they will not change, and this might allow "society to move forward."

Evolution And the Opt-Out Option

For the first time, Florida's students would be explicitly required to learn about the theory of evolution. Until now, the standards have had some vague language about "biological changes over time." From the experience my children have had in science classes, I can testify that they did not learn much about the theory of evolution, and I'm sure that instruction about the theory varies from one school to the next, even from one classroom to the next in the same school.

So it's no wonder that changes are being considered. The independent Thomas B. Fordham Institute gave the state a grade of F in science. Because the federal government is pushing for improved math and science education, the heat is on the state board. The new standards under consideration are comprehensive and generally get high marks - except when it comes to high school biology.

The battle is heating up between a vocal minority who oppose the teaching of evolution and those who think the teaching of scientific principles shouldn't be, well, monkeyed with. As many as seven county school boards - most in Northern Florida - have passed resolutions opposing the evolution standards, according to the St. Petersburg Times, and more could follow. A majority of school board members in Polk County, where I live, have gone on record expressing their opposition.

..."Let's cut to the chase - those who object at all costs to having their children learn about evolution are conservative Protestants who have a religious basis for their objection.

First, these folks must realize one thing: The theory of evolution eventually will be taught in public schools. It is as inevitable as the sunrise. There are far too many people who not only have no objection to the theory of evolution, they insist their children learn it as part of a complete education. And, the nation's security depends on having its children literate in science, including biological science.

So here's my proposal: Let those parents who have a religious scruple about this part of the curriculum sign a waiver exempting their children from learning it.

He then reminds the parents who are objecting that their kids who go on to higher education with be tested on it anyway, whether of not they believe it.

A final caveat to conservative Protestants: My proposal would not get your children entirely off the hook. It's unlikely they would be exempted from being tested about evolution in the battery of standardized tests mandated by the state and federal governments. And colleges are not going to be interested in your children's explanations about why they scored poorly on the science sections of the SAT and ACT. Even if you tell your children not to believe it, it would not hurt them to learn what the theory of evolution is.

In case you missed it, here's some background on the battles on evolution going on here in this state. Even school superintendents believe there are holes in the evolution theory you could drive a truck through.

Florida...shades of Kansas and Tennessee.

Haloscan comment thread

"Yes we can" video

Thanks to Holly for posting about this powerful video in the comments earlier today. And since every other liberal blogger in the world (at least it seems that way to me) has front paged the video, it occurs to me that I should too.

Imbolc

Alexandra Lynch at Street Prophets just reminded me that, in addition to being Groundhog Day, today also marks the Celtic festival of Imbolc.

Some links:

Imbolc: Feeding the Body & Soul

The Wheel of the Celtic Year: Imbolc

By the way, I didn't learn until today, as I was searching to find out more about Imbolc, that there actually was a connection with Groundhog Day:

Imbolc was much concerned with fertility and weather prognostication. According to Gaelic folklore, the hag goddess Cailleach would gather firewood on Imbolc. If she intended to prolong winter she would make the day bright and sunny, the better to gather firewood. If Imbolc turned out overcast, it meant that Cailleach was asleep in her den and that there would be an early spring. Sound familiar? Most Groundhog Day reference sources cite this bit of Scottish verse:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Winter has another flight.

If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,

Winter will not come again.

Amazing how many things I've gone most of my life not knowing...

Haloscan comment thread

Open Thread

I'm not sure if I mentioned this--maybe I mentioned it in the comments, but not on the front page here, but Demetrius and I have been doing some work for Maryscott O'Connor on the My Left Wing store. Here's a design Demetrius just added...

And here's a picture of Bart, the new pup Mom will be raising for Canine Companions for Independence.

Talk amongst yourselves...

Haloscan comment thread

Actually, Hillary...

you can't make those delegates from Florida count just by coming to this state and saying you will count them. It is a little bit of grandstanding you are doing, isn't it?

Here is a scenario presented by the blog at Convention Watch 2008.

How would the Florida and Michigan delegates actually be seated?

And we have a vote, state-by-state, the first meaningful state-by-state roll call at a Democratic Convention since 1980. Clinton would need a majority of the delegates (not including Florida and Michigan) to approve the Minority Report.

And then reality strikes. If Clinton can get a majority of delegates to support the Minority Report, than she has a majority of the delegates supporting her anyway, and she doesn't need Michigan and Florida.

But if she doesn't have a majority of the delegates supporting her, its hard to see why delegates supporting other candidates would vote to seat the two delegations, essentially helping her out. After fighting for the nomination for 2 years, why would Obama or Edwards and their delegates give up the fight in this way. It's just not going to happen. The delegations will NOT be seated if the nomination is contested.

Bottom line is my vote won't count at all toward choosing the nominee. It did not count in 2000 because the Supreme Court took it. It did not count in 2004 because my candidate dropped out a month before our vote.

It does not count this time because my state party leaders and legislators preferred get the limelight a week before Super Tuesday. They could have waited a week, and we could have helped choose the nominee.

Haloscan Comment Thread

D.I.Y. Thread

If anyone wants to post some new content, here, go ahead. But if nothing else, here's your new thread for comments. --Renee

Update: A few shared items.

Haloscan comment thread

DEAN AND ME

Thankful and I, wearing multiple Dean buttons, went to see Heath Eiden's Grassroots movie today at the Roxy Theatre in Burlington.


                       ~ listener and Thankful

One of my sons joined us there, and I saw a few other people I recognised, but not as many as I expected. There were probably 60 people present. Heath was present and took questions and comments afterward.

This is my take on it. Thankful is on the road home now, and will offer her take after she's home, maybe later tonight.

Members of my family and I were present when Dean announced his campaign's beginning and it's end, and were volunteers at Dean HQ in Burlington. I mostly stuffed envelopes for meet-ups and fund-raising from October 2003 (just after a son's wedding) on through the beginning of 2.0., but also answered phones during the wildest 8 weeks of mid-December 2003 to mid-February 2004. So I was braced for a rough ride today, not sure I had really prepared myself to "see it all again" and to reflect again on the events of those painful days, which remain largely unresolved.

The movie was 88 minutes and really different than what I expected. At Deanfest I, I had seen a video that made me cry. Some of you will remember how hard it was to see the vivid memories and the clips of Howard Dean speaking, shaking hands, and shaking up the political world, all while smiling and raising his eyebrows and offering the occasional wink.

There was some of that in this video as well, even a good close-up of a twinkly wink. But it didn't make me cry like before. I will say I definitely got misty-eyed when it hit a bit too close to home, and I saw my eldest son on camera, larger than life, at the Blogger's Breakfast in Iowa...with an inrush of memory of his hopes at that time, his diligent work for and donation to the campaign, and his loss (as well as all of ours) when it floundered there.

Otherwise, though, it was ... well ... description doesn't reveal itself easily. As Thankful said, and will surely expand on later (after mulling it on her long drive home): "something was missing." I'm not quite sure what. It is not a documentary. There are no voice-overs. It is the splicing together of a lot of video clips and TV event sound bites, with a little human interest video (even clips of Heath's children) thrown in. So it's a bit organic, and it's a bit limited, but it also has some merit. Bloggers will want a copy if only to have some video from the Blogger's Breakfast (we saw Nurse Teri!) and a comment by Charlie Grapski.

I'd say it's one observer's collection of those days. Heath goes to a lot of events, from house parties to canvassing to conventions. He sees a few people multiple times, such as a young reporter from Massachusetts (whose comments I found quite interesting) and pundit Tucker Carlson. Carlson is friendly toward Heath, says great things about Dean when not on media camera, then speaks of Dean as angry when on live TV. There is a priceless clip Heath got at the peaceful demonstration during the Republican convention, when a plain-clothes police officer runs his motorcycle into a crowd, seemingly to incite a riot, then calls the police to come break up the riot with force. There are comments from average Americans and celebrities alike, here and there, some simple, some begrudging, some poignant.

Nonetheless, we would probably need videos from a spectrum of participants to get the full picture. In some ways we each have that in our memories, from all we have seen and heard. I didn't really need a voiceover to tell what was going on; but as Thankful pointed out, most people probably would. There was less of Dean than I expected ... not comprehensive of his views or policy or happenings. But there were also clips I had never seen, bits of speeches I had never heard. And Heath only lightly brushed up against the reality that what happened in Iowa was engineered by the Kerry and Gephardt camps. He showed more bits which speak to what Harvard professor and commentator David Gergen described well in the movie: that Howard Dean's appeal was at the local, in person mode, during which he really connected with the people and became one with them; but this appeal somehow did not translate the same way in the bits and sound bites (even commercials) in the media at the national level.

I still can't quite put my finger on what's missing, so I hope Thankful has a revelation on the way home. My suggestion is that this movie be shown at Deanfest this summer, that there be a gathering afterwards (perhaps the next day to give folks time to mull it or see it twice) during which the movie is discussed (maybe over a Blogger's Breakfast?). Then maybe some bloggers would offer their personal take on it, on camera, which clips could be added to the end of the movie, allowing a spectrum of reflections to help viewers begin to reflect on that time. Perhaps this would serve to bring the movie full circle...back to the people.

As I said to Heath at the end of the comments time today, the movie is a slice of history. Howard Dean gave articulation to our voices and helped us realise that we have the power. When the campaign crashed, we crashed with it (I heard a murmur of assent when I said that), but it also exposed what was going on in the media and the political sphere, and we will never see it the same again. We will never be the same again.

~ listener

Haloscan comment thread

Obama wins South Carolina

Via Yahoo News

Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

Pardon me a moment of self-indulgence here.

Here's a link to Caroline Kennedy's op-ed, A President Like My Father.

Update: Hat tip to Alan for posting a link to Obama's victory speech. (Speeches by the other candidates, of both parties, can be seen at that link.)

Haloscan comment thread

Open Thread

Image courtesy of the Brick Testament

I've added some new shared items (including a couple about Hillary's recent stunt) here.

Update: Watch for South Carolina primary results here, after 7 p.m. Eastern time on January 26.

Haloscan comment thread

VPR interview with the guy who is previewing the Dean movie

in Burlington and Montpelier next week.

VT Edition Interview: Heath Eiden on his film "Dean and Me: Roadshow of an American Primary"

Four years ago, when Howard Dean's presidential campaign was heating up, Stowe resident Heath Eiden grabbed his camera and hit the campaign trail alongside the candidate. What he captured during those tumultuous weeks is now collected in a documentary, "Dean and Me: Roadshow of an American Primary. " Eiden spoke with VPR's Jane Lindholm about the film and about what he learned on the campaign trail.

Here are more details. Wish we Floridians could see it. I will supposedly get a DVD later because of our early on donation to Heath. Jealous.

Two Very Special Sneak Previews In Vermont

Jan. 26, Sat., 11am @ THE SAVOY in Montpelier, VT

Jan. 27, Sun., 11am@ THE ROXY in Burlington, VT

In the spirit of the Dean Movement we ask for a small donation ($10 or what you think it's worth).

Heath has been working on this movie about the Dean campaign since the campaign ended. A lot of us donated toward it, and he keeps in touch. Check out this post at the Vermont Daily Briefing. The movie is almost ready to roll out...with previews in Vermont.

Vermont Daily Briefing post about Dean and Me

Instead I get to be in this state and listen to the all the media blitz when Hillary wins the non-countable primary here next Tuesday. I get to watch all the local news and read the local media presenting only one side.

I am very tired of it, and I am very tired of politics in general.

Haloscan Comments Thread

Open Thread (with puppies)

My mom is about to get one of these puppies, or one of their siblings--all I know for sure is that it will be a yellow male, and his name is Bart--to raise for Canine Companions for Independence. I think he's arriving at the CCI branch in central Ohio this Friday.

By the way, Haloscan is having some serious issues today. No idea what the problem is, but no, you weren't imagining it.

Update: In fact, I have now tried about a half dozen times to post a comment saying "New thread", to no avail. Anyway, I tried.

Another update--I've gone ahead and made a Blogger comment thread for this post, since Haloscan is currently not working here, nor is it working at Americablog, which also uses Haloscan commenting.

Good night, everyone.

Haloscan comment thread