Mark Penn - Hillary Clinton's Strategist Also Has Tobacco and Drug Company Clients - Bob Novak

Bob Novak reported this in his online publication on Saturday, July 7th. This is an example of how Senator Clinton has representatives of the very healh care system she claims to want to change.

Hillary's Strategist
By Robert D. Novak
Saturday, July 7, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Clinton is facing increasing Democratic criticism for using Mark Penn as her presidential campaign's chief strategist while he also serves as CEO of Burson-Marsteller, the public relations giant with corporate clients whose policies run opposite to Clinton's.

Clients include Royal Dutch Shell (attacked by Clinton for "windfall profits"), as well as tobacco and pharmaceutical firms with records she has deplored. Penn was a key operative in President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and continued as a second-term adviser.

A footnote: Penn criticized Bloomberg News, which has reported on conflicts between Burson-Marsteller and the Clinton campaign, for obtaining "several months" of Penn's internal blogs. On June 29, a former employee who started a rival firm filed suit in New York City against Penn for monitoring his personal e-mails.

US voters are ready to elect a black or woman as president: poll

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Large majorities of US voters say they are ready to vote for an African-American or a woman for president, according to a poll published Friday by Newsweek magazine.

About 92 percent of respondents were willing to vote for a black presidential candidate, while 86 percent said they would cast a ballot for a woman, said the poll on Newsweek's website.

However, smaller majorities of voters believed the country was ready to accept a black or woman president.

When asked if the United States was ready for a black president, 59 percent said yes, while 58 percent said the country was ready for a woman in the White House.

Two-thirds of respondents, 66 percent, said that there was a some chance they would vote for Senator Barack Obama, a black lawmaker in his first term. And 62 percent said the same when asked about Senator Hillary Clinton. Both are Democrats. No Republican woman or African American has entered the campaign.

When asked about a possible Hispanic candidate, 81 percent said they were ready to vote for one, but only 39 percent said the country was ready for a Hispanic president. That represents bad news for the only Hispanic candidate so far in the race, Democrat Bill Richardson.

In a head-to-head competition, the poll showed Clinton leading Obama 56 to 33 percent.

The Newsweek magazine poll was conducted by the Princeton Institute July 2-3 among 1,002 persons at least 18 years of age. The overall margin of error for the survey is plus or minus four percentage points.

The election for US president will be held in November 2008.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wanted To Quit Before Iraq War - Times Of London

The Times of London's online edition reports that British Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to quit before the Iraq War. Reportedly, he told Alistair Cambell, his communications director, that he wanted to not seek a third term and be free to act without dealing with the politics of the Labour Party.

New York Times Editorial Calls For U.S. To Get Out Of Iraq

I just read this path-breaking editorial in today's New York Times which calls for the U.S. to get out of Iraq and lays out a time table in a sub section called "The Mechanics Of Withdrawl.

President Bush should feel the walls closing in around him. Yes, he's a lame-duck president, but one would think that he'd not use this "I can do what I want" status to, well, do what he wants to do and the public be damned.

But that certainly is the way he's behaving.

Look, policy by mob rule is more often than not a good thing, but in this case, it is a good thing. People are plain tired of hearing about -- or in some cases, seeing -- Americans killed in Iraq. It's time to leave.

"SF Limo Service Tour | Bauer's Limo Video" - Too Short's Song Is Key

If there's one rap song of the modern era that has an "old school" feel to it, it's Too Short's "Blow The Whistle." Released in 2006, this make-you-get-up-and-dance tune is popular at clubs around the World. But what's not known is that it makes a great back drop for a commericial video. Take this one I made to promote Bauer's Limousines:

Too Short's "Blow The Whistle" Rages - Good For "SF Limo" Too

If there's one rap song of the modern era that has an "old school" feel to it, it's Too Short's "Blow The Whistle." Released in 2006, this make-you-get-up-and-dance tune is popular at clubs around the World. But what's not known is that it makes a great back drop for a commericial video. Take this one I made to promote Bauer's Limousines:

Antonio Villaraigosa's Affair - Horndog Mayor Has Hillary Clinton In A Bind - RadarOnline

It isn't only Antonio Villaraigosa's political rivals who are gleeful over the Los Angeles mayor's extramarital exploits. Democratic presidential hopefuls not named Hillary Clinton are snickering at how one of the party frontrunner's most coveted supporters has suddenly become a potential embarrassment.

Villaraigosa, who serves as one of four national co-chairmen of Clinton's campaign, admitted earlier this week that he's been having an affair with Telemundo news anchor Mirthala Salinas. Villaraigosa's wife Corina—the two merged their last names, Villar and Raigosa, when they married in 1987—announced their separation last month. (Salinas has been pulled off of the air while her bosses look into whether she violated the station's ethics rules.)

A rising star in the Democratic party, Villaraigosa's endorsement had been heavily courted by other candidates, especially New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, the only Hispanic in the race. "They're probably pretty relieved now that they didn't win that one," laughs an insider from another campaign.

Villaraigosa's revelation leaves Clinton in a bind, says the insider. "They want people to forget all the ethical, marital partisan wars that were being waged" during Bill Clinton's time in office, and "this is exactly the type of scandal that's going to remind people of that." On the other hand, "it would be very difficult for them to walk away from someone who's widely viewed as one of the most influential Hispanic politicians in the country."

"They're highly motivated to find a way to justify keeping him," agrees a strategist from another campaign. "Where they are going to find themselves in a tough situation is if Mrs. Villaraigosa goes to the mat the way [Rudy] Giuliani's wife did. If she gets militant about the divorce, they are going to be in an incredibly awkward situation."

For now, Clinton's best response is probably to do nothing, says a former Democratic consultant. "The Clintons don't stick with people who become liabilities, but to get rid of him would invite comparisons they don't want," he says. "Bottom line, she's a bigger punchline if she throws him off."