Obama Security Screening Stopped By Secret Service In Dallas? WTF?

This is terrible! It's a totally freaking outrage! What is going on with the Secret Service?

Police concerned about order to stop screening

By JACK DOUGLAS Jr.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

STAR-TELEGRAM/RODGER MALLISON

Barack Obama speaks Wednesday at a Democratic rally in Dallas' Reunion Arena. Police were told to stop screening people for weapons before the rally began.
DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd."

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

Doors opened to the public at 10 a.m., and for the first hour security officers scanned each person who came in and checked their belongings in a process that kept movement of the long lines at a crawl. Then, about 11 a.m., an order came down to allow the people in without being checked.

Several Dallas police officers said it worried them that the arena was packed with people who got in without even a cursory inspection.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because, they said, the order was made by federal officials who were in charge of security at the event.

"How can you not be concerned in this day and age," said one policeman.

Christine Smith Blessed By NY Post's Cindy Adams - NY Upper East Side Interior Designer A Celeb

Christine Smith Interior Design Blessed By NY Post's Cindy Adams

Taking a break from politics, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Mcain, we look at Cindy Adams who "brings you the juiciest celeb gossip and celebrity news" according to the New York Post, her employer. Well, if that's the case, then Cindy's just blessed Christine Smith as a celebrity. Cindy took note of the growing presence of Smith's workers around the Upper East Side, and gushed ..

"GUYS are around hauling demolition, filling dump trucks, wearing black T-shirts that read "Christine Smith." So who's Christine Smith? A stunning, skinny, befurred, 6-foot blonde with silver buckles on her jeans and waist-length hair. And why's anyone hauling fixtures wearing her shirts? She's this season's contractor du jour. Looking like a model, this lady is demolishing johns, pulling out sinks, building walls and redoing kitchens all over the Upper East Side."

Wow.

Not only is Christine a model, but the work of her and the crew of people she employs is as well.

Here is but one of the examples of the work of Christine Smith, who it can now be said rules the Upper East Side of New York. Visit her website at http://www.christinesmithassoc.com

Pro Clinton 527 / Emily's List Take $ From Questionable People

By now if you're a political junky like myself, you've heard about the "Pro-Clinton 527" that will concentrate on coming up with new ways to smear Senator Barack Obama on his way to what is an eventual Presidential Nomination. The Clinton 527 is being paid for in part by Steve Bing, who's a Hollywood type who reportedly -- according to the Telegraph of London -- got two starlets knocked up, then pressured the media to bury the story. Emily's List took money from this guy!

Read this from the Telegraph.Co.UK:

After Liz Hurley, Bing faces second bitter paternity row

By Oliver Poole in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 3:28pm BST 16/05/2002

Steve Bing, the playboy Elizabeth Hurley claims is the father of her son Damian, was named yesterday as the parent of a girl at the centre of the world's most expensive child support case.

The millionaire television producer was identified in court papers as the father of Kira Kerkorian.


Kirk Kerkorian
The four-year-old girl is the subject of a bitter paternity row between Kirk Kerkorian, one of California's richest men, and his former wife, who has demanded £223,000 a month in maintenance.

Mr Bing, 37, is already waiting for a DNA test to be carried out to determine whether he is the father of six-week-old Damian after Hurley agreed to the procedure last week.

However, he may have to spend thousands of pounds more on child support and make the girl heir to part of his estimated £280 million fortune after the latest development.

According to the papers filed at a Los Angeles court, Mr Kerkorian, who owns MGM film studios and a string of Las Vegas casinos, hired private detectives who matched DNA from the child with a strand of dental floss they found in Mr Bing's dustbins.

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The 84-year-old had become suspicious when he heard rumours that Mr Bing and his ex-wife, the former tennis player Lisa Bonder, had an affair around the time of Kira's conception.

The couple were living apart at the time. They were reconciled for a one-week fling in which Miss Bonder claimed that she became pregnant.

Mr Kerkorian's investigators took DNA from the floss and compared it to strands of the child's hair which showed a match with 99.993 per cent certainty, the court papers said.

The case went to court at the start of this year after Miss Bonder, 36, filed for child support as well as demanding use of her former husband's private Boeing 737 up to five times a year. She said the money was needed to keep her daughter in the manner to which she had become accustomed, which included £4,200 a month for visits to restaurants and £300 a month to look after Kira's pet rabbit.

Mr Kerkorian said he believed that the child was not his. However, he had become emotionally attached to her and was happy to continue paying £53,000 a month to help support her.

Neither he nor representatives of Miss Bonder or Mr Bing were available to comment on the new allegations yesterday. The latest development comes after the flurry of claims and counter-claims after the birth of Damian whom Hurley, 36, insists was fathered by Mr Bing during their 18-month relationship, which ended last November.

That would not only make the boy eligible to a share of his fortune - which is based in New York property - but also about £450,000 a year in child support until he is at least 18.

When the pregnancy was announced Mr Bing questioned whether he was the boy's father and said the couple were not in "an exclusive relationship" when he was conceived.

However, Hurley said she was "completely loyal and faithful" to her former boyfriend, whom she "loved enormously during the two years we were together".

A DNA test is expected to take place within the next month to settle whether he is Damian's parent. At present no father is named on the boy's birth certificate.

When proceedings to resolve the paternity case were issued in the Family Division of the High Court last month, Mr Bing's spokesman said: "If it is proved that Mr Bing is Damian's father, he would wish generously to support him and to be involved in his upbringing."

John McCain Lobbyist Scandal With Vicki Iseman About Power

The MSN and the Internet in the form of thousands of emails on the Barack Obama listservs were abuz with the news about John McCain's association with a beautiful lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The association between the two is eight years old and while Senator McCain says there was no sexual relationship, in my view there was a "power association" -- a marriage of a Senator flattered by the attention of a smart, lovely young woman who knew the ropes in Washington, and her desire to be in the company of a senior elected official who could open doors for her.

Vicki Iseman is no slouch. A look at the bio on her website will tell you that:

VICKI ISEMAN
Vicki Iseman, Partner, represents corporate and public clients on issues as diverse as government contracting and regulatory reform. Her experience includes representation of clients before Congress, Federal government agencies and local opinion leaders.

She has extensive experience in telecommunications, representing corporations before the House and Senate Commerce Committees. Her work on the landmark 1992 and 1996 communications bills helped secure cable access for broadcast television stations. Her experience in the communications field includes digital television conversion, satellite regulations and telecommunications ownership provisions.

She has been active in grassroots communications campaigns for clients, building community based support for legislative initiatives. Among others, she participated in the "Keep America Moving" campaign that educated community leaders on the allocation of Federal highway trust funds.

In addition, she has consulted for clients who are interested in government contracting opportunities. She has assisted corporations through the authorization and appropriation process. An active fundraiser, she has organized and participated in many political fundraising events.

A native of Pennsylvania, she holds a B.A. degree in Education from Indiana University in Pennsylvania.

(Note: the company took her bio off their main site, but a cached version is at the Huff Post. )

Iseman is skilled in getting earmarks for her clients. Earmarks are expenditures for projects in an area of interest to an elected official. While, it's not clear -- yet -- that she helped McCain in that area, it's documented that by 2006, she'd become a name partner in her firm and quite good at the practice.

And Vicky's client list is extensive:

American Maglev Technology

AMFM Inc

Arison Family Trust

AstraZeneca

BearingPoint Inc

CACI International

CanWest

Capstar Broadcasting Partners

Carnival Corp

City of Miami, FL

City of Palm Springs, CA

Click Radio

Computer Sciences Corp

Future Leaders of America

Hillsborough County

Hispanic Broadcasting Inc

Homer-Center School District

i2Telecom International

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Ion Media Networks

Jovan Broadcasting

Latona Assoc

Marin County, CA

National Stroke Assn

Operation Warm

Paxson Communications

PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Saga Communications

Sinclair Broadcast Group

Telemundo Network Group

Total Living Network

Tulare County

Univision Communications

Walter Industries

I don't think this is a case of a classic sex scandal and to look at it that way is to miss what in my view is a much richer story: a tale of how McCain made relationships with lobbyists and very much before his relatively new efforts to curb lobbiyst activities.

But one does have to wonder if McCain's sudden war on lobbyists had something to do with his relationship with Ms. Iseman. Time will tell.

Major News From Barack Obama

I received this e-mail message from Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama less than an hour ago.

david --

We learned something extraordinary since I wrote to you last night.

We've crunched all the numbers and discovered that we are within striking distance of something historic: one million people donating to this campaign.

Think about that ... nearly one million people taking ownership of this movement, five dollars or twenty-five dollars at a time.

We're already more than 900,000 strong, including over half-a-million donating so far this year. This unprecedented foundation of support has built a campaign that has shaken the status quo and proven that ordinary people can compete in a political process too often dominated by special interests.

Unlike Senator Clinton or Senator McCain, we haven't taken a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. Our campaign is responsible to no one but the people.

One million donors would be a remarkable feat -- something that's never been done before in a presidential primary and something no one ever thought would be possible for us. And you still have the opportunity to be a part of it.

If you make a donation right now, one of those 900,000 donors has promised to give again in order to match your first gift. You can double the impact of your first donation -- and you can even choose to exchange a note about why you are part of this movement.

We started this improbable journey a little over a year ago in Springfield, Illinois.

And because you've joined together to make your voices heard, this journey isn't looking as improbable anymore.

Since our victory on February 5th, we've won ten straight contests.

But on March 4th, we face a huge challenge in Texas and Ohio, who will vote along with Rhode Island and Vermont. We are behind in the big states and need as many people involved as possible if we're going to win.

If we can reach our goal of one million donors by March 4th, we can send a powerful message that the Washington establishment and big-money interests cannot ignore.

As one million people with one voice, we can tell them that their days of dominating Washington are coming to an end -- the old politics are crumbling and a new voice is breaking through. Our voice.

I learned the power of ordinary people coming together as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago.

I worked side-by-side with people who had been laid off from steel plants that were moved overseas. These were people who needed new jobs to rebuild their lives, and their political leaders were ignoring them.

But even though the odds were stacked against them, they discovered that by coming together with one voice, they could no longer be ignored.

When we launched this campaign, we knew we were up against similar odds. We knew we'd be running against a massive political machine with deep ties to the Washington establishment.

We knew it wouldn't be easy.

But if we can do this, we're not just going to win an election. We're going to change our country.

Thank you so much,

Barack

John McCain Wins Wisconsin and Washington State Over Huckabee

John McCain is just a few steps closer to the Republican nomination with decisive wins on Tuesday and in Wisconsin and Washington State. But John's got a bigger problem and Amy Holmes and the Republican Party has an uphilll battle in that Barack Obama himself tonight has drawn more voters than the entire Republican Party has for all of the primary contests.

Yikes!

Barack Obama's Sweep: Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Washington State

Barack Obama has one again. He won decisively in both Wisconsin and Hawaii, and by 58 percent / 41 percent in Wisconsin, and a whopping 74 percent to 26 percent, respectively in Hawaii. That's ten straight wins for Obama and a fresh set of donors and fans.

But the campaign withstood what is the strongest challenge of negative press on the part of both the Clintons and the mainstream media. It's started with what I think was a misguided and vealedly racist attack on Barack's speeches as lacking substance. But then it got worse with attacks on Michelle Obama because she said that in her adult life she was finally proud to be an American.

I agree.

Clinton fans are wondering why she's not only losing, but being totally beaten in a landslide most of the time. The answer is simple. She's using the old style politics of divide and attack and it's not working. Many public officials know that you don't attack when it's not popular to do so.

I end this blog post with a video made by the University of Wisconsin chapter of Students for Obama:

Michelle Obama Speaks For Me. I'm FINALLY PROUD OF AMERICA

Michelle Obama speaks for me. I'm finally proud to be in America and for anyone Afirican American, they feel the same way too. Look, after decades of racial discrimination, political lies with Watergate, Clinton scandals and all the rest, we've finally reached a point where we all can exhale, because we've been waiting too long to do so.

Michelle Obama speaks for me!

Hillary Clinton Can't Use Her Own Words So What's She Talking About

Hillary Clinton's officially off the deep end and desperate. If she's the nominee, I'm voting for McCain, and you can bank on it.

First, Clinton says that Obama should use his own words -- but she should use her own words. Hell, she was the one who said Fired Up and Ready To Go." She's not able to use her own words at all.

I really don't like the idea of her as president. She's running an ugly campaign.

Did Officer Wiley Willis Do Brutality Against Angela Garbarino

In my opinion this is an excellent example of a police officer terrorizing a person and turning off a camera himself to continue an act of brutality. This happened in Shreveport, LA and to one Angela Garbarino . who was arrested on suspicion of DUI by Officer Wiley Willis, who has been fired.

But this again shed light on why some -- not all -- police officers are allowed to behave in this way. It wrecks the very idea of "protect and to serve." How can you feel protected by people who can act like this?

Here's the rest of the story, from ABC News:

A Louisiana police officer was fired after a woman, who was pulled over on the suspicion of a DWI, ended up with two black eyes and bruises to her face while in police custody in November.


Video

DWI Suspect in Pool of Blood: How Did it Happen?
What makes Angela Garbarino's injuries and situation more curious is the fact that Shreveport police Officer Wiley Willis turned off the interrogation-room camera after he and Garbarino exchanged words.


The video shows Garbarino requesting a phone call.


"You're not going to let me call anybody?" she asks on the video. "I have a right to call somebody right now and I know that. Is this on the record?"


The footage documents Wiley attempting to read Garbarino her rights, but he runs out of patience and things get tense. He seems to forcefully put her in a chair.


"Don't touch me again. Get away from me," Garbarino says after a scream.



Then, Wiley walks over to the police camera recording the booking and turns it off. What happens next is a mystery, but when the video resumes the handcuffed Garbarino is sprawled on the floor and silently lying in a pool of her blood.


Another officer arrives and takes a cursory look before Garbarino is wheeled out on a stretcher. In addition to her bruised face, Garbarino's injuries also included two broken teeth.


While Garbarino says Wiley physically abused her, his attorney said what he did was "in accordance with normal practice."


"The suspect again tried to leave the room. In the process of stopping her, she fell and injured herself," said Eron Brainard in a statement to ABC News.


Wiley is appealing his dismissal and police have not brought charges against him because no one knows for sure what occurred.


Meanwhile, Garbarino faces reckless driving, hit-and-run and DWI charges. She has denied the charges.


A Shreveport police spokesperson said no specific law about the phone call exists, but typically suspects are processed, booked and then allowed to make a phone call.


But at least one expert said at the very least Wiley should have called for a female backup.

Castro Resigns After 49 Years Of Cuban Rule

It's hard to imagine the end of his reign, but it's coming. He was a force for the protection of the working person in Cuba, even if I didn't agree with how he accomplished his objectives. Here's the Washington Post story.

Fidel Castro retires

HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he will not return to lead the country as president or commander-in-chief, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.

Castro, 81, who has not appeared in public for almost 19 months, said in a statement to the country that he would not seek a new presidential term when the National Assembly meets on February 24.

"To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept -- I repeat not aspire to or accept -- the positions of President of Council of State and Commander in Chief," Castro said in the statement published on the Web site of the Communist Party's Granma newspaper.

The National Assembly or legislature is expected to nominate his brother and designated successor Raul Castro, 76, as president. The younger brother has been running the country since emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding forced Castro to delegate power July 31, 2006.

The title of "Comandante en Jefe" or commander-in-chief, was created for Castro in 1958 as supreme leader of the guerrilla forces that swept down from the mountains of eastern Cuba to overthrow U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Castro's retirement draws the curtain on a political career that spanned the Cold War and survived U.S. enmity, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet Communism.

A charismatic leader famous for his long speeches delivered in his green military fatigues, Castro is admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States but considered by his opponents a tyrant who suppressed freedom.

His illness and departure from Cuba's helm have raised doubts about the future of the Western Hemisphere's only communist state.

"Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process," Castro said in his statement.

"They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement," he said.

The streets of Havana were empty and news of Castro's retirement from politics had not reached Cubans yet by radio or the printed edition of Granma.

"It was logical for Fidel to quit because he has been saying that he is not well," said a musician who was leaving a cabaret. "But nothing will change until the government makes the economic reforms that Cuba needs," he said.

President George W. Bush, in Rwanda as part of a trip to Africa, had no immediate comment on Castro's plans to step down, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said on Tuesday.

Castro has only been seen in pictures since then, looking gaunt and frail, though his health improved enough a year ago to allow him to keep in the public mind writing reams of articles published by Cuba's state press.

"This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of 'Reflections by comrade Fidel.' It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful," Castro said.

Castro could remain politically influential as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party and elder statesman.

Raul Castro, Cuba's long-standing defense minister, has run raised expectations of economic reforms to improve the daily lot of Cubans since standing in for his brother, but he has yet to deliver.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle, Editing by Eric Walsh)

Hillary Clinton & Clinton Racist Staffers Use Obama "Plagiarism" Accusations

Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Campaign Managers are being racist in my view, and that includes the new campaign head, Maggie Wiliams, who's Black but is so into the campaign and wanting to please Senator Clinton she can't see straight. She's got to wake up.

This is why. Look, they've accused Obama of "just words" and not speaking on policy substance and the hidden rule is that Black politicians like Obama and Deval Patrick, the Governor of Massechusetts, talk in inspiring terms, but are weak on policy, which is another veiled way of saying..

They're not intelligent because they're Black.

That's right. That's what Hillary Clinton is saying. That's why Barack Obama went to Governor Patrick and borrowed the retort Obama recited last Saturday in Wisconsin. Because both Obama and Governor Patrick faced the same racist approach from opposition White candidates who implied that in some way they were not good at talking about policy or providing substance and while they don't say "it's because they're Black" the implication is obvious.



Hillary Clinton should be totally ashamed of herself. Her staffers too. They've been trying to position him by first saying he' like or trying to compare himself to Martin Luther King, who Senator Clinton dissed when she basically said MLK could not do a thing without President Johnson's help.

See the connection? Clinton compares Obama to MLK , then says MLK needs a president, which could not be Obama because he can't talk policy; that's a strategy Governor Patrick recognized and so do I -- and it stinks to high heaven.

The Clintons can't help themselves. First it's the Muslim charge; then Martin Luther King; then falling asleep at an MLK Day speech, then saying that certain Obama wins don't matter because many of the voters were African American -- it goes on and on and on and the Mainstream Media just lets' them do it.

I wish someone at CNN, FOX, or MSNBC would grow a spine and start pointing this out. This is sick! I for one, am tired of it.

Sacramento Kings Cheerleader Photo Scandal - Kings Cheerleader Calendar Now Hot Property

As you may have heard, the Sacramento Kings Cheerleaders have decided to take photos of themselves that are simple, racy, and soft-core porn at best. All good reasons to take a bit of a time out from politics -- after all, Bill O'Reilly did. What led to these photos being taken and distributed is a good question. I've not found the answer.

The photos are a year old and I'm interested to know as they came out after Valentines Day. Was a jealous ex-boyfriend behind the Sacramento Kings Cheerleader scandal? Did he decide to "out" the group as a whole? Or was it an angry ex-cheerleader who didn't make the cut this time around?

Regardless of the culprit, it's clear that there are at least two groups happy: the Kings fans and Carl's Jr, who's logo is on the dance team photo on the website. If Carl's Jr. is smart, they'll find a way to link this to hamburger sales!

Whatever the case, man, they sure do have great legs!

Big Head DC Getting Lesson In Blog Law | Big Head DC Bullying Stopped By Zennie

Big Head DC is a respectable publication on politics in DC. I enjoy reading it. But I did not like one of Big Head DC's blog articles where he -- the "he" is Rob Capriccioso (pictured) who's the editor of Big Head DC -- accused ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson of being a client of a DC madam named Deborah Jeane Palfrey and basically just because his name happened to be in her phone book and even though Deborah Jeane Palfrey who's the escort, explained to Rob that she had just called him to explain a phone mix-up, and not to offer services.

Plus, Jossip explained "Except all Palfrey had to say to Capriccioso was that she made a single call to Donaldson — to explain a phone call mix up, not to offer her services...Not that it stopped Capriccioso’s report.."

Rob went ahead and wrote an account that in my view smeared Sam Donaldson and left out that the matter seemed to be a total misunderstanding. I wrote that Big Head smeared Sam Donaldson. That's my view and I'm sticking to it.

Now, Rob, who thinks he can bully people, has threatened to sue me. HA! This is what Rob wrote to me:

To Zennie:

It has come to my attention that one of your blog posts contains factually incorrect information about Big Head DC and our reporting:

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2007/11/rob-capriccioso-smears-sam-donaldson.html

Sam Donaldson's number does indeed appear more than once in the records of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, which is exactly what Big Head DC reported. By you saying that "Rob Capriccioso Smears Sam Donaldson With Wrong News" and "this blogger got it wrong," you are libeling the reputation of Big head DC. As the editor of Big Head DC, I ask that you remove or edit your post to accurately reflect our reporting.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Rob

To which I showed Rob how the Internet had rose up against him. For example, let's take the website i linked to in the orginal story, and the one that was the basis for my assertion that Big Head DC smeared Sam Donaldson, the one called Radar and apparently one where Rob had a relationship with the writers there -- not any more.

In Radar, D.C. CONFIDENTIAL explained that "Capriccioso found out about Donaldson's involvement from Radar. We were looking into the Donaldson rumor and stupidly asked Capriccioso, who claimed to have a relationship with Palfrey, to talk to her about it. We decided not to pursue the item for reasons explained below, so he picked it up for himself without so much as a "thank you" or heads-up."

DC CONFIDENTIAL goes on..

"After receiving many calls from Sam Donaldson leaving pleasantries for his releative [sic] on her personal cell number voicemail in the mid-2000s, Palfrey herself decided to give him a call to relay what she assumed to be a mistake. 'Would you please tell your relative to give out the correct phone number?' Palfrey recalls asking Donaldson. 'I was sick and tired of getting these phone calls from people all over Washington asking for his relative.' When she talked to Donaldson, he was immediately panicked and asked how she got his number (she says she didn't tell him that she ran an escort service). She explained the whole story to him about her receiving messages that were obviously not intending for her."

When Radar expressed skepticism, Capriccioso wrote back: "I pushed her hard on that—asked her if she had an affinity for Sam for some reason, and told her that many people would think it was such an odd coincidence that he dialed the wrong number ... she insisted that that was the truth."

The only parts of the above story that made it into Capriccioso's post are the parts about Palfrey confirming a call to Donaldson and Donaldson panicking at the call. The innocent explanation Palfrey offered apparently wasn't relevant.

Radar eventually dropped the item after being waved off of it by a source close to Larry Flynt, the porn magnate who outed Vitter and has been poring over the list. The source insisted that if there was anything to the Donaldson rumor, Flynt would have reported it. Given that, and Palfrey's insistence that Donaldson was not a client, we couldn't sully the man's name in the absence of any other evidence—even if we think Palfrey's story is bullshit. Capriccioso, who didn't return a call for comment, apparently didn't have that problem.

Wow. Which means that DC CONFIDENTIAL didn't even want to run with the story that Rob ran with. Why? Because it makes Donaldson look like he did something in hiring an escort that it's not clear he did at all. Plus, not even Larry Flynt reported the story because he considered it baseless.

Thus, Rob's actions are a real defamation of character in anyone's book, and certainly mine. But Rob thinks he has a case to threaten me. Let's check his claim for fun.

What Rob does not understand is that several bloggers don't back his story, thus leaving it fair game for attack. It's impossible to make a defimation claim stick if the plaintiff does not have a good reputation to start with and in this case of this story, Rob is toast -- he looks bad, indeed.

Moreover, I can state my opinion and I did that. Too bad for him. Moreover, Rob -- by virtue of his blogging and his terrible reporting being all over the Internet on the Donaldson story -- has become a public figure who can be criticized and that's what I did.

And here's the smoking gun: Blogactive has written that Big Head DC's story was so not credible they considered never linking to his work again! Here's what they wrote:

More discrediting

I've taken some heat in the comments of my last post. Please note that I never said it didn't happen. I simply said that it APPEARED that BigHeadDC was hustled by a hustler.

I contacted Rob at BigHeadDC and asked him specifically about the information he posted with regard to Sam Donaldson's number appearing in the DC Madam's, Jeane Palfrey. Once the story was discredited by Radar, I decided to dig a little deeper. It was only about five minutes before I was able to put my shovel down on this angle to the story.

I happen to know Jeane Palfrey. So, I wrote a note last night:

From: Michael Rogers - PageOne
Date: Nov 27, 2007 3:21 PM
To: jeanepalfrey@_______.com
Subject: Jeane...
Jeane...

Can you let me know if this article is accurate and whether you have any on or off teh record comments about it?

Thanks!
Mike
In less than 12 hours, Jeane wrote back:
From: Jeane Palfrey
Date: Nov 28, 2007 12:32 AM
To: Michael Rogers

Mike… the Radar article is correct.
-Jeane

This exchange, along with numerous friends in the media telling me about other other stories that were wrong on BigHeadDC, has initiated a review with Nick Langewis, the associate editor of PageOneQ, over whether BigHeadDC will ever be linked to from Q again. If we decide not to link there again, it will be the first time a site has been permanently banned from PageOneQ.

In this business, accuracy is everything.

It sure is, right Rob? Even Jossip has exposed Rob's tendency to TRY and bully other bloggers into compliance with his biased reporting. Check what Rob wrote to a Leigh Ann Boutwell , who's Jossip's managing editor.

From: Rob Capriccioso
Date: Nov 13, 2007 11:02 AM
Subject: From Rob Capriccioso / action requested
To: Leigh Ann Boutwell
Hi Leigh Ann,
What John Cook wrote yesterday in his Fresh Intelligence update is
exceptionally unprofessional, and riddled with errors. To clarify, a
Big Head DC staffer received more confirming information regarding the
“DC Madam” / Sam Donaldson story, and we ran with it. Neither I, nor
Big Head DC, had any obligation to run this story with Radar Online.
Apparently, John Cook felt differently, and published a story that not
only misspells the name of Palfrey in a couple of different ways, but
also makes it seem as if the story isn’t true, which it is.
Cook also quoted several off the record e-mails between myself and
Tyler Gray, which, as you know, is very unprofessional. I find this
quite odd, since Tyler, too, has shared much off the record
information with me via e-mail that he has asked me not to publish.
Cook also says in the item that I didn’t return requests for comment,
which is not at all true, as you will see from the e-mails below,
which Radar had in its possession before the update story ran.
To resolve this issue ASAP, I am asking that Radar remove, or amend
with this added information, Cook’s false Fresh Intelligence piece.
Sincerely,
Rob
–
Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007

Action requested? Geez. Gimme a break. Matt Janovic said it best in a comment over at Radar:

Again, what happened between Radar and Bighead? They wanted the SMUT, but Ms. Palfrey wasn't going to confirm it to Mr. Capriccioso, so he went and submitted the story anyway. But there was a problem of confirmation: Deborah Jeane Palfrey. She's not going to confirm it because there was never a story to begin with. Her assertions are true, while those of Radar and Bighead are not. They wanted a story that was an easy fix, didn't get it, and went and ran it anyway. Now they have to do the clean-up.

The End Of American Hegemony - AntiWar

AntiWar, the website against the Iraq War and violent conflict in general, has an article worthy of note called "Can The US Brace Its Fall?" It asks if America is ready for a world where it's no longer the most influential nation. My response is that it depends.

I think we are if we elect leaders who recognize America's new, more complex position in the World. Senator Barack Obama does; Senator Clinton and certainly Senator McCain far less so. If we can get the "hawk" element of U.S Government under control and adopt a more intelligent and less "cowboyish" and power-hungry approach, we can do this.

The 2008 Presidential election will tell much for the future.

Larry Sinclair UPDATE - Admits He Has Texas Speeding Tickets!

The evidence is here above. That's "Larry's" message to me. I don't believe that's his real name.

Larry Sinclair, the Obama hater spreading false claims about Barack Obama , has admitted personally to me that he has speeding tickets in Texas. This flies in the face of his claim that he lives in Minnesota, even giving an adress that turned out to be an assisted living center called Gateway Assisted Living.

Sinclair is on YouTube as am I -- his channel is larrysinclair0926. I found his channel and informed him that I'd determined that he was really in Texas and not Minnesota and that he had an outstanding warrant in Texas (ok, I lied).

But he fell for it! Sinclair wrote back this to me:

"As for your statement that I have an outstanding Texas warrant, that is news to me, but I will look into it. I do have speeding tickets."

So he's in Texas and a faker to boot.

Hillary Clinton Uses Obama Words Without Attribution - "Fired Up And Ready To Go"

According to The Politico's Ben Smith , Senator Hillary Clinton said the words "Fired Up And Ready To Go" -- a tagline constantly used by Senator Barack Obama and the Obama for America campaign. Clinton does not credit Obama for the original use of the term, nor does Clinton know why Obama came to use it.

That's a clear theft of a term used by Obama, who's opposing Clinton in the 2008 Presidential race.

Smith reports Clinton saying, "We are fired up and we are ready to go, because we know that America is ready for change," Hillary said moments ago in Davenport, melding Obama's signature line into one of hers in a sort of campaign slogan medley.

She's also got a radio ad out casting her as the candidate of "hope," TIME's Mark Halperin reports.

The term "Fired Up and Ready To Go" came from a small group of Obama supporters in South Carolina.

Larry Sinclair Is A Texan Obama Hater / Liar Who Supports Ron Paul

UPDATE Larry Sinclair admits he has TEXAS speeding tickets!

There's a major sicko liar of a person named Larry Sinclair who's making claims about Obama I will not discuss here. But I will report that Sinclair, who was stupid enough to post his fake adress as 600 W Superior St Duluth, MN 55802, which is an "assisted living" facility called Gateway Assisted Living!

Then this totally terrible man proves how bright he IS NOT by making a YouTube video I will not link to, wearing a -- get this -- "Everything Is Bigger In Texas" shirt!! Now, how likely is it that a young guy in an assisted living facility in Minnesota would even wear a shirt with Texas on it? First, assisted living facilities are for the elderly.

And he's speaking with a Texan drawl, in a room with a Mexican Flag (!) in the background and a fan -- a freaking fan -- running. Which means it's hot and he's somewhere in South Texas which is where it's around 80 degrees on February 5th which is when the video was posted, and South Texas is near the boarder!

He's a fake!

Dear Murray has shed light on Sinclair's Ron Paul ties, which is logical not only considering Murray's evidence, but Sinclair's own Texas clues he's stupid enough to offer in his own video.

Yeah.

What an idiot!

Bill Clinton v. Heckler | Was Heckler A Clinton Plant?

The real question is why would President Clinton take time to lower himself to take on a heckler? That's the disturbing part about all of this. Now, Bill's temper is front page news -- again. Of course, the guy could have been a plant by Clinton.



He also got "excited" at this rally after being heckled by anti-abortion people. But it makes you wonder if this sort of thing is staged because you know and I know that Secret Service people have checked the area more than once. I'm suspicious.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli

CANTON, OH -- Robert Holeman came to Timken High School here today with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton. He did -- and he said the former president wasn’t happy about it.

Clinton spoke to a capacity crowd in this Northeast Ohio town, the third of five events today in the Buckeye State. He told voters that the contest was “the power of speeches against the promise of solutions by a world-class change maker.”

Throughout the event, as Clinton made his case for his wife, Holeman’s dissenting voice could be heard. At times he simply shouted Obama’s name. When Clinton would set up a sure applause line, Holeman could be heard heckling. As soon as Clinton finished speaking, the Canton native made a beeline to the ropeline to give Clinton a piece of his mind.

“I asked the president to please stop the bickering between the campaigns,” Holeman said in an interview afterwards. “All this name calling is like the bully in the yard. He can’t get his way, he can’t get nothing done.” Holeman said he thought Clinton was “gasping for air.”

“This is the last hurrah. After March 4, Hillary Clinton will be out of the race for good, and Obama will take the commanding lead,” he said. “She should back him with her delegates immediately. That’s what I’m asking them to do.”

Holeman said that Clinton responded by saying Obama came after him first. Holeman also described Clinton’s reaction to him as “irate.”

“I think he even hit me in the face with his hand,” he said. “He did give me a little pop. It was okay, because I understand his tenacity for his wife.” Clinton did engage Holeman for a few minutes, at times pointing directly at him. It was unclear whether he did make physical contact, however.

Holeman said he did support Bill Clinton during his campaigns, but that now the country wants a “new perspective.” “I think the president’s trying hoodwink us, bamboozle us, put us back in the okie doke,” he said. “He had eight years to do what he was supposed to do. All the things he said that she’s gonna do, he had the same authority that he wants her to have. Now if one Clinton, the male Clinton can’t get it done, how is Ms. Clinton [going to].”

Several Clinton supporters who saw the exchange came up to Holeman after to -- shall we say delicately -- express their disapproval for his actions. More negativity, Holeman said. “Hillary Clinton has started the most negative campaign I have ever seen, other than what the Republicans can launch,” he said. “I think we need to come together on those issues.”

*** UPDATE *** Obama spokesperson Ben LaBolt said Holeman was "absolutely not" a plant by the campaign. And a spokesperson for President Clinton who was near the president said there was no physical contact.

Clinton Gives Donor List To CNN Polling Company - Poll Rigged?

National Public Radio has provided what seems to be the "smoking gun" evidence of possible early campaign "poll-rigging" on the part of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign. Last year, 2007, in this blog post, here:

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2007/07/cnn-polling-linked-to-clinton-donor.html

I argued that CNN -- the Cable News Network -- should not be using polls that came from a company linked to Vinod Gupta, a major Clinton Donor. Gupta owns Info USA and the Opinion Research Corporation (OPC). It's the OPC that makes the polls that are reported by CNN, and those same polls early in the 2008 Democratic Presidential race gave consistently enormously high leads for Senator Clinton. Polls by the OPC were consistently high for months, even as other organizations like Gallup USA began to show Obama closing on Clinton.

Now, it's revealed in this NPR article that the Clinton campaign sold -- or rented -- their donor list (which contains 38,000 names) to Info USA and the OPC, but NPR's article does not make the extra step of explaining why InfoUSA / OPC would even need such a list. That's what this video is about. The list was rented for just $8,225, and not the six-figures it's valued to be, and the Clinton campaign did not collect the money until 11-months after the list was delivered.

Why? My assertion is that the campaign knew the payments would show up in their finance reports and thus wanted to delay this possible discovery for as long as possible. Clinton's campaign received the money on December 3rd of 2007. Does this violate any law? At first blush it does not but it's unethical nonetheless and should not be allowed. If Opinion Research Corporation calls just 1,500 of the 38,000 Clinton donor names, ORC can claim that they used a "representative sample of most likely voters" and have an outcome favorable to Clinton. However, I don't deal with the legal aspects of this problem here, that's for the next blog and video.

Meanwhile Gupta himself is in some trouble , as his activities of lending the Clintons the use of his private jet, and hiring President Bill Clinton for $3 million a year have ignited a shareholder lawsuit against Gupta. as Gupta's corporate operatives want to know what value, if any, Gupta's free-spending ways on Clinton have gained InfoUSA.

In may ways, this story is much like that of Peter Paul and Clinton , where Mr. Paul tried to hire Bill Clinton as a "rainmaker" for Stan Lee Media, and in the process never secured the employment of Clinton, while spending $2 milllion to hold a lavish gala for Hillary Clinton's Senate run.

What does this say about the Clintons and donors? Be careful not to get used; while Gupta's in trouble, Hillary campaign for President. Can Gupta count on the Clinton's to get him out of this jam? It depends.

If Gupta had a good contract with Clinton such that Bill had to submit performance reports with each invoice, then Gupta would be able to show shareholders what they got for their money; but if Gupta just gave Bill Clinton money for being Bill Clinton then Gupta's not going to make his shareholders happy at all.

Stay tuned.

"Feeling Down" Sexist? What A Bunch Of Bullshit! - Clinton Supporters Need To Chill

My letter to "BigTentDemocrat" who had the never to post a really silly blog on Barack Obama's use of the term "Feeling down"

Hello,

How in hell can you come up with such a ridiculous and stupid and silly assertion as to even THINK that stating "feeling down" is
sexist? I don't care that Andrea Mitchell -- who's a Clinton backer upset that Barack's gotten this far -- has pointed to this.

I'm a guy who's a member of TWO women's professional groups and THEY have never heard of such B.S. If you're interesting in helping Hillary, this is not going to work. It's -- actually -- the most laughable approach. But it also points to a constant attempt by Clinton supporters to focus on the worst fears and anxieties of people, and it stinks.

It also smells that you would play into it. Please stop it.

Clinton supporters have the annoying habit of playing to America's worst fears. First they use racism. Then they play the "female voter harmed" angle, while Obama does not do this. It's not helping Clinton at all, and it's a sure bet it will continue to fail.

Tavis Smiley Snubs Michelle Obama - Will Not Allow Her To Speak At "State"

Man, this really burns me. Tavis Smiley has totally gone off the deep end. He's not king, and seems to simply be sorry that Senator Obama's really making a trail to be the next President of The United States. According to the Washington Post , Senator Obama declined to speak at Smiley's event, "The State Of The Black Union" because he's campaining and in a fierce battle with Clinton for those states remaining.

Tavis -- bowing to his own ego -- elected to publicly damn Obama for the decision.

Obama offered to have his wife Michelle speak, but Smiley declined! That's ego run-amok! Tavis should go and appologize to Obama. Smiley must understand that he can't stand in the way of Obama doing the work that has gotten him this far. But Tavis claims he's a journalist asking the hard questions -- that's bullshit, as he's just asking about his event! He's just getting into a pissing match because he doens't know better. Time to be educated, Tavis.

I agree with Melissa Harris-Lacewell over at The Root, Tavis may be acting like the crab in the barrel. I wish he'd start acting like a person interested in Barack's succes.

Houston Chronicle Endorses Barack Obama - Dallas and Houston Papers Back Him

While Barack Obama continues to barnstorm Wisconsin, the impact of his candidacy and message has hit Houston. The Houston Chronicle has endorsed Barack Obama , giving Barack two major Texas backings, from the Dallas Morning News and now the Houston paper.

Wall Street Journal Backs Obama's Heath Care Plan Over Clinton's

The Wall Street Journal's editorial staff took a good look at both Senator Obama's health plan and Senator Clinton's, and liked Obama's for the same reason I do: an efort to reduce costs and without using penalties like calling for wage garnishment.

Look, I don't care what anyone says, that threat in the Clinton plan is a deal-killer.

Illinois Shooting - Loss Of Anti-Anxiety Medication No Excuse For Killing

The story going around is that the reason the gunman decided to walk onto a stage at Northern Illinois University and open fire on students was a lack of his Anti-Anxiety medication. I think that's bull. I don't know what the reason is, but it's not that one and there's still no explaination for having four school shootings in ONE WEEK.

The simple fact that's not an outrage is depressing.

I also don't think gun control's going to solve the problem. If a person wants to get or make a weapon, they will do it. What we need to focus on is why they do it.

Shooting At Northern Illinois University - Gunman Dead

This is terrible and it seems like each day, I've heard about someone opening fire with a gun at a school. I don't know what the heck is going on, but it must be adressed now.

Multiple Victims In N. Illinois Univ. Shooting
Suspect Shot And Killed Himself

LIVE CBS 2 Special Report: NIU Shooting
DE KALB, Ill (CBS) ― Several people have been shot on the Northern Illinois University campus. The suspect killed himself and officials say the danger has passed.

Officials confirmed that several people were shot at Cole Hall, a large lecture hall on campus, shortly after 3 p.m. and the campus was immediately placed on lockdown.

Kishwaukee Hospital reported that up to 15 people were being brought to the hospital and that three to four of those victims had suffered head wounds.

Student journalists at the school's Northern Television Center reported that there were 18 victims, two of them fatalities, including the gunman.

Lt. Gary Spangler of the DeKalb Police Department told the school newspaper, the Northern Star, that "The gunman is deceased," adding that the "majority of the incident happened in Cole Hall."

Officials said the immediate danger has passed.

More here....

Northern Illinois University: Gunman on campus

FROM SUN-TIMES STAFF

A gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb this afternoon, injuring several people. A suspect is reportedly dead following the shootings at Cole Hall, according to DeKalb Police.

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said it's possible the gunman committed suicide.

NIU officials wouldn't give details on the extent of the shootings, but said students and staff are on lock down. Classes have been canceled.

"There has been a shooting on campus,'' NIU spokesman Joe King said. "Several people have been taken away by ambulance. The Dekalb campus is shut down.''

An alert on the university's Web site states that there is a possible gunman on campus. "Get to a safe area and take precautions until given all the clear," the report states. "Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity."

At 3:20 p.m., the university posted the following alert on its Web site: "There has been a report of a possible gunman on campus. Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear. Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity."

The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle said there were injuries, citing information heard over a police scanner shortly after 3 p.m. The scanner alerted police about a white, male shooter with a shotgun and pistol.

According to the NIU Web site: "It's has been confirmed that there has been a shooting on campus and several people have been taken away by ambulance. All classses are cancelled on the DeKalb campus. People are urged not to come to campus."

John McCain Lying About "Earmarks" - He's Got Several Of Them

Today on Fox News -- I was watching while writing about Kofi Bonner -- John McCain attacked Senator Barack Obama for taking earmarks, even though Obama has reported his earmarks.

But in the process, McCain claimed that he has never asked for one and has stated "And I’m proud to tell you, Chris, in 24 years as a member of Congress, I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state and I guarantee you I’ll veto those bills. I’ll ask for the line item veto and I’ll veto them and I’ll make the authors of them famous."

Well, McCain should start by making himself famous.

According to Think Progress.org , McCain asked for and got them twice. Think Progress writes that...

"McCain’s claim is false. In 2006, the senator teamed up with fellow Arizona senator Jon Kyl (R) to funnel $10 million toward the University of Arizona for an academic center named after the late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Even Arizona lawmaker, Rep. Jeff Flake (R), said he was planning to “lean against the measure.” The National Taxpayers Union, another traditional McCain ally, questioned why the senator was making federal taxpayers foot the bill for the center.

In 2003, McCain also slipped $14.3 million into a defense appropriations bill to
create a buffer zone around Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. As Roll Call reported in 2003, this project violated McCain’s own anti-pork rhetoric:

The only problem is the project to acquire more land near the base was not requested by President Bush or fully authorized by the Senate Armed Services Committee - two of McCain’s criteria for identifying so-called ‘pork.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), a notorious porker, was overjoyed that McCain had joined his side. “One man’s pork is another man’s alternate white meat,” said Stevens. “If he asked for it, we put it in.”"

Even a "correction" added by Roll Call to its 2003 report doesn't place McCain in the clear. He asked for money to be directed toward a project in his state, and he got it. That's an earmark.

Also, the Washington Post reports that in 1992 McCain asked for and got $5 million to be directed to a wastewater project in Arizona. The original request was rejected, causing McCain to go into action, approaching the EPA, and eventually President Bush I.

McCain should remember that people in glass houses should not throw stones.

Chad Johnson to Remain A Cincinnati Bengals Receiver - ESPN

Assuring that Chad Johnson will line up and roam free to catch passes at the enemy Cleveland Browns stadium built by Kofi Bonner , Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis has said that he has a great relationship with Johnson and he will stay in Cincinnati. Here's the rest from ESPN..

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is standing firm: Chad Johnson is staying in Cincinnati.

Lewis said Wednesday that the team will not trade the disgruntled wide receiver and has never discussed it, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer and the team's Web site.

"They can stop the presses, quit killing trees and move on to other things," Lewis said, defending Johnson despite the wide receiver's critical comments about the team. "There is, at no point, anyone in the Bengals organization who has ever uttered anything about trading Chad Johnson. Nor will he be traded."

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that acquiring Johnson is the Washington Redskins' top offseason priority, as team owner Daniel Snyder wants an elite receiver.

The Post reported that according to two league sources, Johnson wants to land a big payday in Washington, and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has been quietly working behind the scenes to broker a deal.

But Lewis said that's simply not going to happen.

"There is no such thing as behind-the-door dealings in the NFL. That does not occur because the team in question [the Bengals] is not willing to trade their player, nor have they thought about trading their player or discussed trading their player, nor will they discuss trading their player. So I think that's pretty clear. Things can move on," he said.

In television and radio interviews over the past month, Johnson has criticized the Bengals and hinted that he would welcome a change of scenery.

Lewis said Wednesday that he has not spoken to Johnson since the team's final regular season game.

"People [in the building] talk to him," Lewis said, according to reports. "It's unfortunate for Chad that he is being cast in this light because it's not fair. So once again I will go on record in defense of him."

"We've had a great relationship," Lewis said of the Bengals and Johnson. "All I want to see is Chad continue to be a very, very productive NFL player and help us win a lot of football games. And that's not going to change."

The latest figures from the NFL Players Association show Johnson was the fourth-highest paid wide receiver in the NFL last season with total compensation of $7,165,379 million, according to the reports. Were the Bengals to trade or release him before June 1, they would take a salary cap hit of $8.03 million.

Indiana Jones Is Back, May 22nd | Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

In a trailer that would get the attention of Kofi Bonner , Steven Speilberg and George Lucas have released the trailer for Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The trailer touches on the past and gives a look at the future, at a movie that is sure to delight fans of the series -- like myself -- as well as people who have not seen an Indiana Jones movie at all.

Here's the trailer:

Clinton Is Democratic Nixon - Dick Morris On O'Reilly Factor

Boy, I've heard some really deep terms used to describe the Clintons and particularly Senator Clinton, but this one takes it. On Wednesday's "O'Reilly Factor" Dick Morris called Hillary Clinton the Democratic Nixon.

When I think of Nixon, I think of the term "Tricky Dick" so with Clinton I guess the word would be, well, I don't know...Really, I don't. But that's not the point, the main warning is that Clinton has the same trust issues that President Nixon had, and that's why he was called "Tricky Dick.

Hillary Clinton Breaks Obama Promise, Goes Negative In Desperate Wisconsin Ad

A few weeks ago, Senator Hillary Clinton said that she would not go negative against Senator Obama after a brusing period which saw Clinton accused of racism and working to destroy the Democratic Party.

Well, after eight-straight primary losses, Hillary Clinton has apparently changed her mind. In an obviously desparate attempt to change the course of the Democratic Presidential Race, Clinton is running a series of attack ads in Wisconsin, whining about Obama's refusal to give Clinton the debate schedule she requested.

I think Clinton would do better by making appearances in Wisconsin, rather than the negative ads, which did not work. Barack Obama is taking his case to the people of Wisconsin, with appearances at The University of Wisconsin, as this speech shows:

Hillary Clinton Proves To Be A Sore Loser - CNN.com

It is more important for Senator Clinton to come away from this with an idea of what to say to her followers, expecially after the terrible trashing she took by Obama. Here's the CNN acount in full

EL PASO, Texas (CNN) – For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.

On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.

On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).

The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.

Clinton congratulated Obama and John Edwards after their first and second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. Obama returned the favor in New Hampshire, saying Clinton “did an outstanding job.” That courtesy continued through the early states.

But as the race has shifted to a delegate chase with dozens of states in play around the country, the notion of congratulating one’s opponent seems, for Clinton, to have fallen by the wayside.

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

Barack Obama Wins 8th Straight Primary - Takes Delegate Lead

Wow. After being considered the underdog, Senator Barack Obama won primaries in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland. Also, he won these presidential primaries with huge margins, on the average 60 percent and 74 percent in D.C.

These mark Obama's 8th straight primary win and at a time when some stated that Senator Hillary Clinton needed and would take at least one of these states, most likely Virginia -- but it did not happen.

Obama steamrollered Clinton.

What's even more interesting is to see the mood of CNN's anchors, the "Clinton News Network" which for months has tried to pave the way for Senator Clinton to be the president, and failed. I said it earlier this year, you can't prop-up a person the people don't want to be president, you just can't do it.

It's particularly nice to see CNN contributor Donna Brazile get angry regarding the Clinton campaign strategy, as she did this night. I was -- ok, am -- tired of her daily stomping for Clinton using CNN's airwaves. Now she's got to deal with the harsh reality of a total butt-kicking given by Obama for America.

Clinton's Campaign Manager Resigns

On the heels of today's important ''Potomac Primaries'', Hillary Clinton's deputy campaign manager Mike Henry has removed himself from the Presidential candidates staff.

"Mike Henry had done an outstanding job for the campaign and his expertise will be missed," said Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson.

Henry's move comes days after Patti Solis Doyle was demoted to the position of senior adviser.

Ron Paul Gives Up Without Giving Up - People.RonPaul.com

OK. Look at this message below from the Ron Paul website at People.RonPaul.com and tell me if you think Ron Paul's still trying to win the Republican nomination for President.

February 8, 2008

Whoa! What a year this has been. And what achievements we have had. If I may quote Trotsky, of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked. Not because of me, but because of you. Millions of Americans — and friends in many other countries — have dedicated themselves to the principles of liberty: to free enterprise, limited government, sound money, no income tax, and peace. We will not falter so long as there is one restriction on our persons, our property, our civil liberties. How much I owe you. I can never possibly repay your generous donations, hard work, whole-hearted dedication and love of freedom. How blessed I am to be associated with you. Carol, of course, sends her love as well.

Let me tell you my thoughts. With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter. Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no third party run. I do not denigrate third parties — just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.

I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen.

In the presidential race and the congressional race, I need your support, as always. And I have plans to continue fighting for our ideas in politics and education that I will share with you when I can, for I will need you at my side. In the meantime, onward and upward! The neocons, the warmongers, the socialists, the advocates of inflation will be hearing much from you and me.

Sincerely,

Ron

Hmm. That's what I thought you'd say.

TSA Blog Wants Your Complaints - Tell TSA What's Wrong

Wow. This could not have been more timely. A blog that allows me to write about the worst of my TSA experiences and boy have I got some, and I'll bet you do to. Click to check out the TSA complaint blog!

John.I.Am - John McCain Video Parody of "Yes I Can"

Hillary Clinton Disses African Americans and Activists After Obama Wins

In an uncharacteristic show of unfortunate speech, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, as reported by CNN , unleashed her anger over losing to Senator Barack Obama by targeting the reason for his wins to activists and African Americans.

Clinton told reporters who had gathered to watch her tour a General Motor plant here that "everybody knew, you all knew, what the likely outcome of these recent contests were."

Clinton: "These are caucus states by and large, or in the case of Louisiana, you know, a very strong and very proud African-American electorate, which I totally respect and understand."

Clinton has publicly dismissed the caucus voting system since before Super Tuesday, seeking to lower expectations heading into a series of contests that played to Obama's advantage. His campaign features what many consider to be a stronger and more dedicated grassroots organization than Clinton's.

Noting that "my husband never did well in caucus states either," Clinton argued that caucuses are "primarily dominated by activists" and that "they don't represent the electorate, we know that."

So let's take a time out from this and think. Senator Clinton has just said essentially that African American and activists in a caucus system are the reason she lost. Why say that at all? It's a total dis -- and she failed to congratulate Senator Obama, which means she's totally angry about the whole thing. But to say all of this is a totally terrible thing to do. Now, she's going to have to back-track on her statements -- again.

Washington Caucus' Voting On, then Off, and On Again -- WTF?

You've got to read this Washington craziness!

Huckabee won't concede state; GOP resuming delegate count
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
Related
Postman on Politics | State GOP to count more today
Obama beats Clinton 2-1; McCain edges Huckabee
The results of the state Republican caucuses were called into question today after presidential candidate Mike Huckabee challenged the party's declaration that Arizona Sen. John McCain had won the delegate count.

Huckabee's campaign took issue with the fact that Washington state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser called the race Saturday night with 87 percent of the precincts counted. At that point, McCain was ahead of Huckabee by 242 delegates out of the 13,000 counted, Esser said. The Huckabee campaign contends there were another 1,500 or so delegates not counted.

In the face of the Huckabee protest, the state Republican Party quickly resumed its count today, a bit sooner than it had planned.

In a news release, Huckabee's campaign said there were "obvious irregularities" in the state's Republican caucuses and that it is sending lawyers to explore "all available legal options regarding the dubious final results."

According to the GOP's Saturday tally, Arizona Sen. John McCain won about 26 percent of delegates, Arkansas Gov. Huckabee won 24 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished with 21 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has dropped out of the race, got 17 percent. Most of the rest were non-committed.

"This was an error in judgment by Mr. Esser," the release from the Huckabee campaign said. "Washington Republicans know, from bitter experience in the 2004 gubernatorial election, the terrible results that can come from bad ballot counting."

The state Republican party posted new numbers late this afternoon, with 93 percent of the precincts reporting. The percentages didn't change much, with McCain winning about 25 percent of the delegates, Huckabee 24 percent, Paul 21 percent, and Romney 17 percent.

Esser's acceleration of the count hasn't altered the Huckabee campaign's intent to investigate. Its lawyers should reach the state by late today, said James P. Pinkerton, a campaign spokesman.

"This clearly requires a full excavation as to what happened," Pinkerton said. "The political impact of calling an election before all the votes are counted is pretty seismic. Chairman Esser should fully explain what happened and why to the satisfaction of all Washington state Republicans and all Republicans nationwide."

Esser said this afternoon that the Republican Party was going to try to get as "close as we can to 100 percent" in the vote count, and may have more numbers by later today. But Esser doesn't believe counting more votes will change the outcome.

"We're eager to give everybody the same level of confidence in the numbers as we have," he said.

Esser said their last county report on Saturday came shortly before 10:15 p.m., at which point they had 87.2 percent of precincts reporting. That's when they did an analysis, saying: "Let's take every county where Huckabee is beating McCain, and double the margin of victory," Esser said. "And then take every county where McCain is winning and cut in half that margin of victory. Even if you assume that, Sen. McCain still holds on.



"That's when we said we're confident that Sen. McCain's lead was going to hold up," Esser said. "I would have done the same for Gov. Huckabee if he had the same margin and the same underlying dynamics as Sen. McCain."

Esser said he spoke today with Pastor Joseph Fuiten of Bothell, who's heading Huckabee's volunteer effort in this state. According to Esser, Fuiten said Huckabee supporters reported some voting irregularities. Esser said the party would investigate those allegations. Fuiten could not be reached for comment.

Esser said he didn't have a figure for the number of people who attended the Republican caucuses, since he asked workers to focus on the delegate elections.

Saturday's caucuses will determine only a portion of the 40 Republican delegates who will go on to the Republican National Convention. Caucuses at various levels will determine 18 of those delegates; 19 will be based on the state primary election on Feb. 19. The three remaining positions are "automatic" delegates — the state party chairman and two national-committee members.

Paul's campaign is also not conceding the state.

Maureen Moore, Washington state coordinator for the Paul campaign, said her candidate "did wonderful — a lot more wonderful than what's being reported."

On the Democratic side, more than 200,000 people — a record number — turned out for the state caucuses. With 96 percent of the precincts counted, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won about 68 percent of the delegates, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won about 31 percent, and the rest choosing either "uncommitted" or "other."

Final numbers will be released by 5 p.m. Monday, said Kelly Steele, spokesman for Washington State Democrats.

Randy Moss in College; 90-Yard Screen Pass To TD Video

For those who wondered what talent Randy Moss showed at Marshall that caused him to go in the first round of the NFL Draft, here's a good look. This video should be the measure of all wide receivers coming out of college to the NFL. If you can find a senior receiver who made a play like this, put him or her on your list. Check this out!

Barack Obama Wins Maine - Obama Sweeps Weekend Contests - Adds Maine Caucus

After taking Lousiana, Washington, and Nebraska, Senator Barack Obama captured Maine's caucuses this weekend. According to C-SPAN and CNN.com, Obama, with 70 percent of the precincts counted, had 58 percent of the votes, versus 41 percent for Senator Hillary Clinton.

This marks a clean sweep for Obama, and has started to turn the last part of this campaign into an ass-kicking. Let's see how this impacts the delegate race; it should put him past Clinton.

Barack Obama Sweeps Louisiana, Washington, & Nebraska Today - Washington Post

Riding a huge tide that's only masked by media outlets who support Clinton, Senator Barack Obama won the caucus primaries in Louisiana, Washington, and Nebraska, confounding "experts" and pointing to a clear movement. Read this account from the Wash Post..

Obama Sweeps Clinton in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington
By Eric Pianin
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) swept to solid victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state today, an impressive showing that left the two Democrats in a virtual tie for national delegates but with Obama gaining momentum.

On the Republican side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee delivered two humiliating defeats to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses and the Louisiana primary, while running slightly behind McCain in Washington state with incomplete returns.

Obama also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign. The freshman senator from Illinois celebrated his victories tonight in a speech to a Democratic dinner in Richmond Va., on the weekend before important primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington State," he said. "We won north, we won south, we won in between, and I believe we can win Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change."

In the wake of Tuesday's showdown in 21 states that left Clinton and Obama roughly even in the number of pledged delegates, the two lavished attention on Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington state, in a frenetic effort to bulk up their delegate counts. Obama stood to pick up as many as 170 delegates tonight.

With nine-tenths of the precincts reporting, Obama led Clinton, 56 percent to 37 percent, in Louisiana. Obama romped to victory earlier in the evening in Nebraska, 68 percent to 32 percent, and then overwhelmed Clinton in Washington, 68 percent to 31 percent, with 96 percent of the caucus vote counted.

That's called a butt kicking.

The Crumbling Educational System In The United States

What began as the great strong hold in our country, has rapidly increased to a grave crisis and epidemic across classrooms from New York to California. The public school system in the United States has precipitously deteriorated for years and inadequate action has been taken to discover any logical remediy for the failing districts.

Currently, the city of Detroit graduates 25% of students and a mere 50% of children have the opportunity to receive their diplomas in Chicago. Education is the key predictor and great equalizer in our nation, yet there’s no accountability from parents, teachers, administrators, politicians or the school boards. This is a serious emergency and the grim and harsh reality is that this conflict is only going to be exacerbated as time progresses.

It’s time for the millions of students who board buses to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools five days a week to be good at something and for something. We can not permit failure, and it’s completely irresponsible and unacceptable to have arrived at this startling point. Our economic success and viability is squarely dependant upon education and the availability of structured opportunities.

When 60% of African-Americans, 64% of Latinos and 80% of Caucasians graduate from the public school system that is incomprehensible and devastating. In addition, 40% of children drop out of secondary school before the possibility of graduating is even fathomable. Clearly, the thirst to live the American dream has dried up.

This situation is hampering people all across the nation at record depths. The magnitude and seriousness of this crisis is too high and transparent steps must be taken in order for the future of our great country to have even a slim chance of survival in an extremely competitive and thriving world.

At the current juncture, the facts indicate a despondent and gloomy outlook, not bright and prosperous. Since half of the teachers in public schools leave after five years, there’s an inability to establish any line of consistency and continuity with students. In New York City alone 6,000 teachers leave every year.

Incompetent educators, administrators and politicians have stolen an entire future generation of students and it’s time that they are held culpable for their actions.

Super Bowl XLII, New England Patriots Final Drive, Tom Brady

This is the companion video to the first one showing the NY Giants touchdown drive and the David Tyree catch. Here, we see what happened to the New England Patriots as they had a chance to either kick a field goal to tie the game, or score an even more dramatic touchdown.

Hillary Clinton On Walmart Board - Video Shows Her On It

This video by ABC and now on YouTube is a daminng example of Senator Clinton's past association with Walmart as one of its board members. She says she now denounces Walmart's practices, but why did she associate with them in the first place? Here is the video.

Obama Raises $6.2 Million In One Day, Surpassing Money Clinton Used From Her Own Pocket

In a fine show of financial power, the Obama for America campaign chair David Plouffe issued this email call to donation action:

Zenophon --

I was writing a note to you about the state of the race after Super Tuesday when we got some startling news.

The Clinton campaign just announced that Hillary and Bill Clinton injected $5 million of their personal fortune into her campaign a few days ago.

This is a dramatic move, and a clear acknowledgement that our campaign has the momentum. We saw undeniable evidence of that last night as the results came in.

Barack Obama won the most states and the most delegates on February 5th.

We have gotten to this point thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support from ordinary Americans.

To date, more than 650,000 people like you have taken ownership of this campaign, giving whatever they can afford.

The Clinton infusion of $5 million -- and there are reports it could end up being as much as $20 million -- will give them huge resources for the next set of primaries and caucuses.

Thanks to you, we have raised more than $3 million since the polls closed on February 5th. But we have no choice -- we must match their $5 million right now.

We're going to do it the right way, with small donations from people like you. It's never been more urgent that you make a donation of $250 right now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/resultsFeb5

Just two weeks ago we were behind by double-digits in many of the states that voted yesterday, but Barack won 13 states to 8 states for Hillary Clinton, with one state (New Mexico) still counting votes.

This is an enormous victory, and it's all thanks to you.

We won yesterday because thousands upon thousands of individual supporters canvassed their neighborhoods, talked to their neighbors and friends, and made phone calls to remind their fellow supporters to get out the vote.

And we accomplished all of this with a campaign funded by ordinary people giving only what they can afford.

Yesterday was proof that America is ready for change -- and that you are the force to make that change happen.

But there's still a long way to go before Barack becomes the Democratic nominee. In the next week alone, six more states will hold their primaries and caucuses.

We need to match this $5 million personal contribution from the Clintons immediately and put these resources to work in the states that will vote next.

Please make a donation of $250 now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/resultsFeb5

Here are some details about yesterday's historic victory. According to official results and exit polls:

Barack won 2-to-1 in traditionally conservative states where Democrats are hungry for a nominee who can change the map and help Democrats up and down the ticket win in November

Our winning coalition included Americans of every race, background, and gender -- including 64% of women in Georgia

We scored wins in every region of the country -- New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states, and the West

Americans had a clear choice to make yesterday, and they chose Barack Obama.

Now let's match this $5 million and take this campaign into the next stage.

Thank you,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

This call to action has resulted in a new donation record of $6.2 million in one day, just beating the $5 milllion generated by Ron Paul supporters last year. It also says that, in contrast to the Clinton campaign, the Obama for America effort can litterally cause money to materialize from what seems to be a bottomless pit of a fiscal source: it's enormous base of over 600,000 donors.

Wow.

Chelsea Clinton In Polling Place As It Opens - Big Mistake

Personally, I don't think it's a big deal but ABC News does as does the Drudge Report and WTNH in Connecticut. It seems that Senator Clinton and Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton was delivering coffee and donuts to the poll workers in Connecticut just before polls opened, but remained until a few minutes after they were open, thus violating a law in that state prohibiting the apperance of a campaign worker or campaigner in or within 75 feet of a polling place.

I don't think she's going to jail for this, nor should she. Here's the video at ABC.

BUT...Why "butter up" polling place workers? What about all of the problems with vote tampering allegations? Now, I wonder. Could coffee and donuts buy a vote fix?

NY Giants Super Bowl XLII: Video Of "The Drive" Goes Viral - Hits YouTube Page One

Ok, this is the first time this has ever happened for me, but the video I created that shows the full final drive of the NY Giants to victory against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII has went viral. It's on the first page of YouTube and is one of the top most viewed videos as of this writing, with over 63,000 views!

You can see the video that has generated over 600 comments here:



Subscribe to my YouTube channel!

McCain Prevails; Barack Obama Wins 13 States; Clinton Slight Deligate Lead

In a dramatic, brusing, and by all accounts still Super Tuesday-into-Wednesday voting contest, Senator Barack Obama won the most states, Senator Clinton has a slight delegate edge, and Republican Senator John McCain's emerging as that party's front runner for the 2008 presidential nominee.

For the Democrats, Senator Obama, my favorite, was the top state winner, earning victories in 13 states, including some states that the campaign and many pundits didn't think he'd win, like Idaho. The bottom line is that in many races, race itself didn't matter; Obama won in states that barely have an African American population at all.

That's remarkable, considering the bad-rap the country (and CNN) has given it's collective self regarding race. Clinton - including pre-primary Super Delegates -- has 741 versus 659 for Senator Obama thus far, but with New Mexico not fully counted as of this writing, too close to call, and containing 38 more delegates. If Obama holds his slim lead there, it will cut Clinton's delegate lead to just 44. If we subtract the 100 or so Super-Deligates

McCain, on the other hand, is riding a clear path to the Republican nomination with 575 delegates, about half as many more as Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.

Looking forward the remaining state contests are in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. Obama goes into the stretch with $32 million in new money to spent. Remarkable.