Too Progressive

Just a day after Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy seemingly “nudged” Hillary Clinton out of the race for fear of dividing the party ahead of a general election fight against John McCain, Barack Obama said Hillary Clinton “can run as long as she wants.”

“She should be able to compete, and her supporters should be able to support her as long as they are willing or able,” Obama said.

Obama said the notion that the party is divided is “somewhat overstated.” But he said Democrats must pivot quickly to the general election after the primary contests end in June.

VA-02 is, in my opinion, one of our best chances to pickup a congressional seat in Virginia and as Lowell pointed out early last week, the DCCC agrees. Let’s help VA-02 elect Glenn Nye and thereby put one of America’s worst public servants in the unemployment line!

From a message I received this morning on Facebook from Glenn Nye:

Friends,

March 31st is an extremely important deadline for Glenn’s Campaign–its the day he has to file his first fundraising report! Thelma Drake, our opponent, had Dick Cheney host a fundraiser for her, but we can win if YOU help.

Can you contribute $25 or $15 or even $5?

http://glennnye.com/contributions

We’ve been seeing it a lot this year, time and again–change begins when we all work together. Small donations, when lots of committed people stand as one voice, can beat the rich and powerful.

Can you get five friends to contribute $5?

http://glennnye.com/contributions

Thank you for your interest in changing America, and for supporting our campaign.

-Glenn Nye

Republican State Senator Ken Cuccinelli is expected to possibly finalize the 2009 Republican ticket on Monday by declaring for Virginia Attorney General on Monday.   With Bill Bolling having declared last week that he will run for re-election as Lt. Governor and AG Bob McDonnell having already declared he will run for Governor, it could be a McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli ticket for the Republicans.  Apparently Virginia Republicans still haven’t wised up to the fact that the politics of Virginia are rapidly changing and we’re no longer going to elect ultra conservatives to office.

A patent lawyer and conservative Republican, Cuccinelli was elected to the General Assembly in a 2002 special election. He has been re-elected to the state Senate twice, most recently last year when he retained his office by a margin of about 100 votes.

His office Friday announced a Monday afternoon press conference in Fairfax County.

Hello all, just wanted to do a brief “plug” for this because it’s going to be a great night to benefit a great cause.  I’ve been working at Buzzlife Productions as a PR & Marketing Intern this semester and one of my main projects has been working to put together our Pink Party to benefit Breast Cancer research.  If you’re going to be in the DC area on Friday April 11 you should definitely come check it out.

In a seldom made move of intelligence (as of late, at least) today Governor Tim Kaine signed legislation immediately repealing the unpopular abusive driver fees.  The fees, which applied only to Virginians, were part of a plan to raise money for transportation and mainly supported by Dave Albo and Governor Kaine.

“In the earnestness of trying to solve the transportation issue, a mistake was made,” said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, who sponsored Senate Bill 1 in the 2008 session to repeal the fees. “This was simply the wrong way to go about funding transportation. And today is the day we correct all that.”

Kaine signed the Houck bill along with the House of Delegates version authored by Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax.

“After six months of implementation, it was clear that the fees did not improve the safety of Virginia highways,” Kaine said.

Virginians who have paid any fees will get a refund from the Department of Accounts. No further action is required, Kaine said. All outstanding fees will be waived and considered satisfied. Individuals should not pay any bills they receive from the courts for an abusive driver fee.

This doesn’t make any sense. If I can’t walk right into a public school and get a job without the proper credentials, why should I be able to educate my own kids (if I had any) without any special training or qualifications?

The California appellate court that recently appeared to outlaw home-schooling in California has now agreed to rehear the case, raising hopes among home-schooling supporters that the court will revise its ruling.

I’m sure there are some people who can teach their kids just fine, but do we really want to leave the education of our nation’s next generation up to someone who lacks qualification? The American education system is already falling behind the rest of the world as it is. I’d like to see the California courts uphold this decision and I’d like to see similar legislation introduced here in Virginia.

Not like he’ll listen, but they tried again anyway:

Behind the Pentagon’s closed doors, U.S. military leaders told President Bush Wednesday they are worried about the Iraq war’s mounting strain on troops and their families. But they indicated they’d go along with a brief halt in pulling out troops this summer.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff did say senior commanders in Iraq should make more frequent assessments of security conditions, an idea that appeared aimed at increasing pressure for more rapid troop reductions.

The chiefs’ concern is that U.S. forces are being worn thin, compromising the Pentagon’s ability to handle crises elsewhere in the world.

Senator Mary Margaret Whipple live blogs and responds to reader questions [Raising Kaine]

Glad to see I wasn’t the only one bewildered by this [Not Larry Sabato]

ACLU Fights for In-State Tuition to US-Born Students [VB Dems]

You stay classy, media [Huffington Post via Daily Whackjob]

On Creigh Deeds and Del. Brian Moran [Fred2Blue]

Frank Wolf’s scare tactics and other nonsense [Farewell Frank]

Oh this is rich. In a speech earlier today outlining his foreign policy positions John “INSANE” McCain is calling for a new “League of Democracies” to advance so called “western values” (bigotry, hatred, 100 to 10,000 years of glorious war in Iraq, etc. etc.) and also said he wants to explore a new free-trade agreement with the EU.

“We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact — a League of Democracies — that can harness the vast influence of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests,” McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

President Bush visited Sterling, Virginia today to tour the ColorCraft printing company. After doing so he predicted happy days ahead (yeah right) thanks to the recently enacted economic stimulus package.

President Bush says the sagging economy will “come out stronger than ever before” with the help of rebates from the recently enacted economic stimulus package.

Bush made his comments after touring the ColorCraft printing company in Sterling.

He said that beginning in the second week of May, “a lot of folks are going to be getting a sizable check. I’m looking forward to that day and I know they are as well.”

Actually, I’ll be using mine to pay down student loan debt, so I’m not sure how that helps the economy. I guess George Bush should have thought about that before he decided to cut financial aide funds in order to help student loan companies like Sallie Mae. In case you missed my earlier post, click here to find out when you can expect to see your check and where to go to calculate how much you can expect to receive.

Since I moved from Blogger to WordPress and launched my new domain. I’m still trying to get the feel of things here at WordPress but I must say it is by far Blogger’s superior! Not only that but the layout is much cleaner (both what visitors see and what I see on the back end) and the the list of features offered by WordPress vastly outnumbers that of those offered on Blogger.

Like I said though, I’m still trying to get the feel of things and just wanted to offer an opportunity for visitors to post some constructive criticism and/or suggestions you may have. Also, you may have noticed that my blogroll is not as large as it used to be, but I’m going to be updating it shortly. I’d especially like to add those of you who stop by often or who have been generous enough to link here from your own blogs. That having been said, if I’ve missed you, or you want to suggest a blog to be added please feel free to leave it in the comments!

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, Hillary!

I realize this story is a few days old, but in light of Hillary Clinton speaking out against Barack Obama’s pastor recently, I think it’s definitely worth reading, rereading and passing around.

There’s a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she’s a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that “through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the “Fellowship,” aka the Family. But it won’t be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet’s shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

A great video from Ben at NLS in support of WakeUp Wal Mart:

[Earlier: How Wal Mart is short changing Virginia & Look what Wal Mart and the Bush administration are doing for America]

A chuck of ice in western Antarctica measuring nine times the size of Manhattan collapsed earlier today and an even larger glacial area is now at risk. The collapsed chunk was about 220 square miles wide, and is a result of global warming according to British scientist David Vaughan:

Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 220-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica. British scientist David Vaughan says it’s the result of global warming.

The rest of the Connecticut-sized ice shelf is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice and scientists worry that it too may collapse. Larger, more dramatic ice collapses occurred in 2002 and 1995.

So, so sad. Can we please come together and start taking global warming seriously now?

2:45pm UPDATE: BBC News reports that the affected shelf is part of the larger Wilkins Ice Shelf which has been stable for the better part of the past century. The shelf began retreating during the 1990’s and is now on the brink of total collapse.

Six ice shelves in the same part of the continent have already been lost, says the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Professor David Vaughan of BAS said: “Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.

“I didn’t expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we’ll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be.”

According to the same article, unprecedented warming is to blame for the collapse of not only the Wilkins Ice Shelf, but another six complete collapsed over the past 30 years:

“This is not a sea level rise issue, but is yet another indication of climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula and how it is affecting the environment.”

Scientists say the Antarctic Peninsula, which juts out into the Southern Ocean towards the tip of South America, has experienced unprecedented warming over the last 50 years.

Several ice shelves have retreated in the past 30 years - six of them collapsing completely.

Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling will seek a second term next year instead of challenging Attorney General Bob McDonnell for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination. Bolling stated that “family finances” and “the necessity of building a new business” prevented him from running a costly full-time campaign. Bolling also stated that he would fully support Bob McDonnell.

Bolling said he will support McDonnell and said his decision would unify the GOP ticket next year after two consecutive gubernatorial losses.

“Bob McDonnell and I are stronger running together than either of us would be running individually,” Bolling said.

“The party will line up behind this ticket, a ticket that can beat anything the Democrats throw our way,” he said.

Bolling also hinted at a 2013 run:

Bolling, 50, said he finalized his decision about two weeks ago but had been leaning toward staying put for several months. By 2013, he said, he will have his mortgage paid, the last of his children out of college and his business on sounder footing.

Uhh, this is a little strange, to say the least:

Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

The White House revealed new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery plan that the court proposed.

“When workstations are at the end of their lifecycle and retired … the hard drives are generally sent offsite to another government entity for physical destruction,” the White House said in a sworn declaration filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola.

The White House claims it does not know of any missing emails and that they are “looking into the matter” (I guess that’s kinda like when Scott Peterson was out looking for his missing wife that he had already murdered, huh? Just put on a show to try and maintain your innocence?). Since it has been widely reported that the Bush administration has done a terrible job of keeping records and archiving these type of materials, it’s time we stop giving them the benefit of the doubt and start asking some tough questions.

[I tried posting this last night before I went out but unfortunately Dreamhost is doing some upgrades and I've been having spotty access. I realize it will probably show up a little late but, bare with me here. ]

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson endorses Barack Obama at a rally in Portland, Oregon:

Chris Wallace accuses Fox news of Obama bashing and distorting statements made by the Democratic Presidential front runner:

Via News Hounds:

This could be exactly what it seems to be, a difference of opinion. But knowing that FOX is so carefully messaged and controlled top-down, it could also be a staged event to reinforce the faux notion that Chris Wallace is independent. Were the three stooges set up? In any event, it was refreshing and anything but par for the course.

John McCain and George Bush have been lockstep on Iraq from day one.

Opening Graphic: “McCain & Bush on Iraq: In Lockstep from Day One”

DON RUMSFELD: “There has been a good deal of interaction between the terrorists in the Philippines and the al-Qaeda and people in Iraq.” [ABC News, "Nightline," 11/28/2001]

Glenn Greenwald has an awesome column up on Salon pointing out that the hatred and anti-American sentiments expressed by right wing fundies, and more specifically Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are comparible and even worse than Jeremiah Wright’s.

Ross Douthat and Ezra Klein are arguing about whether Jeremiah Wright’s statements are comparable to those of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and John Hagee’s. To argue that they’re not comparable, Douthat — like most people commenting on this raging controversy — conflates two entirely separate analytical issues:

(1) Given their close and long-standing personal relationship, does Wright merit more scrutiny vis-a-vis Obama than white, radical evangelical ministers merit vis-a-vis Republican politicians? and,

(2) Are the statements of white evangelical ministers subjected to the same standards of judgment as those being applied to Wright’s statements?

It’s definitely worth your time to check out the full article. I especially loved the closing paragraph:

[...]hordes of similar, America-hating white Christian ministers, are celebrated as cherished figures among the very same right-wing faction feigning such outrage and offense over Wright’s far more mild statements. White, right-wing Christian evangelical rage against America is understandable, respectable, and noble. Liberal black Christian anger towards America is scary, subversive, and despicable.