Federal Election Commission Deadline

Tonight at midnight the books close on this quarter's financial take for federal candidates. With polls all over the place the money raised will be the best indicator of where candidates are. Most campaigns will leak expected numbers soon even though they have a couple of weeks to file paperwork with the FEC.

Here are the Democratic candidates:

• US Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware)
• US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York)
• US Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecitcut)
• Former US Senator John Edwards (D-North Carolina)
• Former Alaska US Senator Mike Gravel (D-Virginia)
• Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
• US Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
• Governor Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico)

While all the campaign sites have links for contributions, props to the Clinton web people for being the only site making special mention of the deadline.
UPDATE- The Clinton campaign was the first to specifically mention the midnight deadline, although the Dodd campaign had basketball themed donation goals, complete with a scoreboard, counting the hours to midnight. Since this mornings post the Obama, Edwards and Richardson (the chili pepper) websites also pronounce Midnight as the deadline.

National Journal's Hotline had fundraising estimates yesterday. They also have a list of questions that should be used to put the numbers into context.

Iran Hostage Crisis - Daily Show style

Yesterday we revealed some details regarding the United States' build up toward military action against Iran.

Of course saber-rattling is a two way street. Jon Stewart and the Daily Show's hardest working correspondent, John Oliver, deliver a spot on editorial to the leaders of Iran.

Russia Predicts US Attack on Iran - One Year Ago

Unearthed from a recent column by Heather Wokush is the prediction from Alexei Arbatov, head of the International Security Center in Moscow, that the United States will attack Iran soon.

"If [the U.S.] ventures a military operation, it will conduct it next year after thorough political, military and propaganda preparations," said Arbatov in a April 17, 2006 article in the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti (RIA-Novosti).

The Russian news service reported on Tuesday, March 27, "a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders" as well as U.S. Naval presence which has, "reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003."

Their main source for the article, Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.

Wokush refers to another Russian estimate of American armed conflict, "predicting the US will attack Iran on April 6th, Good Friday".

Her researched and eye-opening article can be found here (article).

And in case you missed it something occurred just before the unanimous March 24 vote by the United Nations Security Council to impose stricter sanctions on Iran. There was a dispute between Iran and the the U.S. State Department on whether visas for the Iranian President, who sought to attend the session, had ever been granted. (article)

Pat Tillman - "You know, this war is so f— illegal."

You know what he said. Some other gems revealed in an article from Sunday:

• He totally was against Bush.
• Tilman urged [a fellow Ranger] to vote for Bush’s Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry.

These observations of Pat Tillman and the title quote are taken from the San Francisco Chronicle article by Robert Collier. (article)

Shortly after the article was writen, Tilman's mother Mary was interviewed on ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick show, by Patrick and Keith Olbermann.

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Tit-for-Tat

Boobs - the only word that comes to mind for the Fox Noise Network. Keith Olbermann goes graphic to graphic with them on Tuesday's "Countdown".

File under "F" for Funny - McCain MySpace Hacked

From TechCrunch

Someone on Presidential hopeful John McCain’s staff is going to be in trouble today. They used a well known template to create his Myspace page. The template was designed by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson (original template is here). Davidson gave the template code away to anyone who wanted to use it, but asked that he be given credit when it was used, and told users to host their own image files.

McCain’s staff used his template, but didn’t give Davidson credit. Worse, he says, they use images that are on his server, meaning he has to pay for the bandwidth used from page views on McCain’s site.

Davidson decided to play a small prank on the campaign this morning as retribution. Since he’s in control of some of the images on the site, he replaced one that shows contact information with a statement:

Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between two passionate females.

[Davidson] is making a political statement while also sending a message about respecting the property rights of others. I expect the changes to be reversed quickly, unless the wrong person is sick or out to lunch today. Either way, we’ve captured it above.

Do You Ted Rall?

If you don't you should check out his Website. Rall is a cartoon artist who goes the extra mile to point out the bull shit we so often smell. Plenty of honors have been heaped upon him (read his bio) and I read the cartoons each time they come out.

Here's the toon that prompted the glowing praise. You know someone over at the DNC offices has asked this question.

All Hail the Oligarchy - or - White House Experience Uber Alles?

I came to a simple realization recently. For my entire voting-age life only 2 families have ruled this country. Extend that through a hypothetical two-term Hillary presidency, and that will be an aggregate 28 year reign.

No need for that to be the end either. In 2016 Jeb Bush, two-term-due-to-term-limits Governor of Florida and member of the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century (the guys who thought in 1998 that invading Iraq would be a super-duper thing to do), will be a hale and hearty 63 years old. He could serve through 2024 and at 71 he would still be younger than Reagan.

Also in 2016, Chelsea Clinton will be 36, her first year of Presidential eligibility. A Disney movie called "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century" makes reference to "President Chelsea Clinton" (found it on Wikipedia, so it's gotta be true). The movie does take place in 2049, the year that a new oath of office will be taken in January, so that puts the Chelsea ascendancy as early as 2040. Gosh, that's a 3 term gap, how will we get by without anyone with White House experience.

Bush twins!!

- funny side note from Chelsea Clinton's Wikipedia entry: As of 2005, Chelsea Clinton lives in the mid-Manhattan west side neighborhood of Chelsea. The neighborhood north of it is called Clinton. The two Midtown West neighborhoods are often lumped together as "Chelsea Clinton" and there was a local weekly newspaper "Chelsea Clinton News" before she became the famous first daughter.

"Vote Different" maker exposed

The Huffington Post went into overdrive and on March 21 they had tracked down the maker of the "Vote Different" ad that had been such a fuss to those paying attention. Not a professional from the Obama campaign, but not really an amatuer either.

The video, "was the work of Philip de Vellis, who was the Internet communications director for Sherrod Brown's 2006 Senate campaign, and who now works at Blue State Digital, a company created by members of Howard Dean's Internet Team."

Below is a post on the Huffington Post Website from the maker.

Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it.

I made the "Vote Different" ad because I wanted to express my feelings about the Democratic primary, and because I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the process. There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it--by people of all political persuasions--will follow.

This shows that the future of American politics rests in the hands of ordinary citizens.

The campaigns had no idea who made it--not the Obama campaign, not the Clinton campaign, nor any other campaign. I made the ad on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment (a Mac and some software), uploaded it to YouTube, and sent links around to blogs.

The specific point of the ad was that Obama represents a new kind of politics, and that Senator Clinton's "conversation" is disingenuous. And the underlying point was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power.

Let me be clear: I am a proud Democrat, and I always have been. I support Senator Obama. I hope he wins the primary. (I recognize that this ad is not his style of politics.) I also believe that Senator Clinton is a great public servant, and if she should win the nomination, I would support her and wish her all the best.

I've resigned from my employer, Blue State Digital, an internet company that provides technology to several presidential campaigns, including Richardson's, Vilsack's, and -- full disclosure -- Obama's. The company had no idea that I'd created the ad, and neither did any of our clients. But I've decided to resign anyway so as not to harm them, even by implication.

This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.

Purging Public Trust

Using the recently-disclosed internal White House/DoJ emails, Keith Olbermann connects the dots showing how intimately involved the White House was in the politically-motivated purge of US attorneys.

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Will Thomas also did the bulk of the research for an attorney purge timeline of events for Talking Points Memo.

In the end the Republican talking points will center on denial (no law was broken), counter-accusation (no crime here, Dems are trying to score political points) and pointing blame elsewhere (Clinton purge was much bigger). They'll beat these into the ground until the networks lose interest.

Prognosis: Democrats need to get a bill in motion, putting the appointments of US attorneys back into the hands of the legislature, ASAP. No crime has been committed, but the American people know ethical wrong from right. While we shouldn't legislate ethics, we can install a process of (gasp) checks and balances to ensure that the right thing is done.

"Vote Green" Does Not Translate Into Klingon

All hail Jyrki J.J. Kasvi, a member of the Finnish Parliment, who is also an ardent Trekkie.

Read the English version of his biography on his website and if you're capable, click over and read the Klingon version (Swedish is also a choice).

Hats off to you Mr. Kasvi, for proving you can be progressive, geeky and still win elections - if you reside in Finland - prost!

GOP Rep. Blames the Troops for Walter Reed

‘If You Leave Food Around You’ll Get Mice’

Yesterday at the House Armed Services Committee hearing on veterans care, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) attempted to stand out from the rest of Congress and argue that the conditions in Building 18 weren’t that bad. Instead of criticizing the cockroach infestation, he said, “I was glad to know that those cockroaches were belly up. It suggested to me that at least someone was spraying for them.”

He also tried to blame the soldiers for the conditions, stating, “And, of course, if you leave food around in a motel room or a dorm room at a college, you’re going to get some mice show up at some point in time.”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO GINGREY

Gingrey further blamed the media — specifically the Washington Post — for the fallout, saying he was “shocked” that Army Secretary Francis Harvey and Walter Reed commander Gen. George Weightmann were fired. “[A]sk the Washington Post whose head should roll, I think [President Bush] probably would be…the only satisfaction.” He then added, “[L]et’s try to take some of the politics aside and some of the rhetoric, and try to solve the problem.”

Transcript:

I want to say for the record that, Mr. Chairman, that, um, I have been to Building 18. I have been to Walter Reed on a number of occasions, but specifically in regard to this issue went to take a look first-hand.

Having grown up in a motel, when I was going to medical school and living in one of the rooms, when I saw this old Walter Reed Motor Inn, it really reminded me a lot of, Mr. Chairman, of a, of the motel that my parents had in Augusta, Georgia. It’s not a five-star hotel, make no mistake about it, but it’s not a flophouse. It’s not a dump. It’s not a dive. It needs some work, no question about it. I’m not making excuses, of course. And when I read the Washington Post report I was glad to know that those cockroaches were belly up. It suggested to me that at least someone was spraying for them, Mr. Chairman.

And, of course, if you leave food around in a motel room or a dorm room at a college, you’re going to get some mice show up at some point in time. But there’s no question that
there’s a problem. I’ve heard some of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle suggest that specific heads should roll. I don’t know that, ah — I was a little bit
shocked, quite honestly, that the Secretary of the Army was relieved of his command and the commander at Walter Reed, General Weightmann was relieved of his command and a change has been made there.

I don’t know what comes next, but I would guess if you ask, since General Schoomaker has had to recuse himself, ask the Washington Post whose head should roll I think it probably would
be the Commander-in- Chief, would be the only satisfaction, and that would be President Bush. But here again, let’s try to take some of the politics aside and some of the rhetoric, and try to solve the problem.

From the Halls of CPAC

An interesting bit of footage filmed at the Conservative Political Action Conference by a writer (editor?) for the liberal magazine "The Nation". Nothing earth shattering; Michelle Malkin losing her cool over nothing (grace under pressure will definitely not be used in describing her), a cheap shot at Ann Coulter and some conservative flipping out within their supposedly sequestered annual meeting.

One part in particular struck me as very true and revealing. One attendee is apparently hiding his Confederate flag lapel pin, and when question why he is doing so he mutters, "'cause you have a video camera in my face." Ultimately the gist of the segment is that there are a bunch of white males, who support the all-white ideals of the new confederacy, who are anti-immigrant, but don't want the issue of race to come up. The classic, "I hate you, but I'm not a racist" tact that works so well when it comes to homophobia - i.e. "I hate the sin, not the sinner, even though they'll go to hell so its okay to treat them as second class citizens." Since conservative legislatures are moving to block rights and access to gay individuals, I foresee someone petitioning for gays to have their votes downsized to the Confederacy era 3/5ths vote. Heritage at its finest and strict adherence to the constitution as written - none of that 20th century judicial activism on behalf of voting rights.

Despicable

de·spi·ca·ble :adjective : deserving to be despised : so worthless or obnoxious as to rouse moral indignation <despicable behavior>

That devotee of the far-right, Ann Coulter, reached her usual low at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) when she implied that John Edwards is a "fagot".

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Mitt Romney, whom Coulter endorses, and his supporters must be thrilled. Sadly, this statement might not be facetious.