**** Something noteworthy came up today in the side discussions I had with other Obama supporters on the issue of abortion.Why not drop the term "pro-choice" and adopt the term "WHOLE-LIFE"?
The Democratic Party platform is more than just the mother's pro-choice. Besides support for the woman to make a decision for her health, we also provide resources to help the mother and newborn to make it through childhood with early start, and education support, as well as supporting job-training, and social security.So...just want to put it out for all of you to consider. Why not let our rallying cry be "WHOLE-LIFE"?There's another reason for this shift in language. The term "pro-choice" is too abstract, and doesn't resonate with the heart or gut feeling. Our opponents' use of pro-life, on the other hand resonates with people's cores, especially Christians. We can co-opt that kind of affectation, because "whole-life" speaks with the same depth of respect for life, but goes further to respect not just a fertilized egg, but the mother and newborn, until old-age.
The diary and discussion and link to video are here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/5/181858/9701/548/588297
Everyday Biden, reminds us and reinforces the message that Obama is qualified to be President.
That pep rally by Biden needs to be a commercial, seriously.
Expect McCain surrogates to claim sexism against characterizations that the Palin pick was a Hail Mary pass. So to head them off, let's start using the term "Hail McCain pass" for such high risk / stupid decisions made with grandiose ambitions. McCain campaigns with the slogan Country first, but what American patriot would put Palin a heart-beat away from the Presidency?
The U.S. is not currently at war, at least according to Richard Stearns, a federal judge in Boston.
The determination wasn’t just so much dicta*. Judge Stearns actually had to decide whether the U.S. is at war in order to decide whether the statute of limitations had run on certain criminal charges in a case involving the Big Dig, the massive construction project that’s been going on for years in Beantown. Click here for a copy of the opinion. (Hat Tip: How Appealing).
The background: In May of 2006, former employees of a concrete supplier were indicted on a handful of charges alleging, among other things, that they’d submitted fraudulent reports to the government. The defendants argued that because the alleged activity took place in early 2001 and before, the charges were time-barred by the five-year statute of limitations.
The government, however, argued that something called the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act, as the name implies, suspended the statue of limitations. The Act provides:
When the United States is at war the running of any statute of limitations applicable to any offense (1) involving fraud or attempted fraud against the United States or any agency thereof in any manner, whether by conspiracy or not . . . shall be suspended until three years after the termination of hostilities as proclaimed by the President or by a concurrent resolution of Congress.
Therefore, strange as it seems, Judge Stearns had to decide whether the U.S. is war to rule on a motion involving contractors in a highway project.
The opinion, while detailed, is a pretty fascinating read. The bottom line, according to Judge Stearns: the U.S. ended the war in Afghanistan on December 22, 2001 and ended the war in Iraq on May 1, 2003. In other words, the statute of limitations on the criminal charges hadn’t yet expired by the time the government filed its superseding indictment in June.
BusinessWeek: President Bush recently lifted an executive order prohibiting oil exploration in U.S. coastal waters, and many people believe the gold mine of oil in coastal areas could be tapped to lower prices. But the reality is that drilling in the now-restricted areas would require years of extensive seismic research before a single rig could operate. Even then, companies would not embark on such massive projects unless the profitability were clear, and the federal Energy Information Administration estimates that access to new U.S. deposits would not significantly affect overall domestic production for 22 years.
When Cathy Landry, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute Says "Every day we wait is a day further from more oil production." I say EXACTLY!
Let's get one day further away from oil production.
Then let's get one week away.
Then a month, and a year.
And finally and rightly lets get away from oil production FOREVER.
WORTH A RE-POST........BETTER TO STAND FOR SOMETHING THAN FALL FOR NOTHING....
June 1, 2008 | 2:02 pm
Democrats have trouble winning presidential elections. One reason is that they have difficulty keeping the campaign focused on their issues. Polls show that this year especially the issues favor the Democrats, with the big ones, the Iraq war and the economy deeply in the Democrats’ favor. But campaigns are not stately debates about issues. They are also battles over what the debate will be about. The politics of distraction can be very powerful, and Democrats have struggled with it for years. Consider how John Edwards found his campaign derailed because he had an expensive haircut. John Kerry had to deal with false attacks on his war record. Right now, the biggest distraction for Obama is Hillary Clinton’s quixotic campaign. Even though she has no chance to win the nomination, she keeps going (at least for a few more days). Media coverage of the fairly ridiculous case for Florida and Michigan being seated at the Democratic convention distracted from Obama’s attack on John McCain for flubbing how many troops we have in Iraq. Of course, the biggest distraction for Obama has been the Rev. Wright controversy. And since this is a real issue, he has had to deal directly with it at some length. While he has dealt fairly effectively with the story, and this week quit the church, this distraction may always be there as a kind of low-level illness. But there will be more, and the Republicans are artful at working the media to keep them alive. A good example is the misstatement Obama made about his uncle liberating a Nazi death camp. He had the wrong camp, and corrected it. It made headlines. In order to keep the distractions from messing up your campaign, you have to speak loudly, clearly, and firmly. You have to say things that are more interesting than your haircut, or the latest distraction. And you have to say them over and over again. You can’t get caught up in the distractions. Deal with them, and move on quickly. So far, Obama is showing some skill at this, as he has directed his attacks at McCain, and not at Clinton. That’s a way of saying, without saying, that the nomination race has been over for a while. He turned McCain’s distraction of challenging him to go to Iraq into an attack on McCain’s lack of knowledge about Iraq despite his several trips there. I expect a cascade of distractions from here on. They are like marbles on the floor, or nails in the roadway. They will keep coming. If one doesn’t work, another one will come up. They will come by viral email. They will come on radio talk shows. They will be presented on the evening news. Some will be true, if pointless. Some will be plainly false. Obama’s road to the White House is not paved with thoughtful debates, although there will be some. It’s paved with marbles and nails. His task will be to keep our eyes on the road.
Posted by Raphael Sonenshein
Once you catch your breath, write him here:
KOLBERMANN@MSNBC.COM
Thanks.
JWZ
--------------
Keith-
While I do not know you well enough to call you Keith, I feel you know
me that well for almost nightly I hear you speak my heart.
Never more so than on Friday May 23, 2008.
Your special comment was compelling, masterful, and unfortunately
absolutely necessary.
It was also heart wrenching. Your efforts to support the Clintons in
the past are well documented. The obvious and painful disappointment
you feel in her massive, repeated, and inconscionable actions creates
in your delivery a different tone and cadence than when you more
gleefully rail against President Bush.
Thank you for both what you do and how. Please keep it up. This
nation, this world, and this individual are in desperate need of your
reasoned and empassioned voice.
Thank you
John W. Zinsser
All -
I have been quiet for a while.
Chalk it up to personal and professional demands, not a loss of interest and desire.
The good news is I have a bunch of things I want to write about and look forward to your thoughts and responses on.
But first this unbelievably surreal piece of politics.
Yesterday the WSJ carried a piece by Karl Rove entitled "Obama's troubling instincts."
If it was not so painfully partisan and attack driven, it could be the opening to a SNL skit this week.
I wrote a comment to the WSJ website and it follows. Encourage you all to do the same.
Do it nicely. Be like Obama - respectful, thoughtful, maybe a little funny, but courteous.
But do act.
We all know this is but the tip of the iceberg. But this bad dog needs to be shown that we, the master, will not accept this form of bad behavior. So roll up that newspaper and please take a respectful discplining swing at Rove and the WSJ.
Best-
John
My Response -
_______________________________
Wait... Karl Rove is titling a piece "(anyone else's) troubling instincts?" Karl Rove who is under supboena from Congress for his troubling ACTIONS not instincts - but ACTIONS? Karl Rove (and others associated with him) who either instinctually or with great personal fore thought continue to choose to thumb their collective noses at the legislative branch of government in hereto fore unseen ways making a mockery of our form of government and balance of power? Karl Rove has no right to question any one else's instincts these days. Something about those in glass houses seems right here. I laughed so hard at the headline, had to wait for the tears to clear from my eyes before I went on to the article. Troubling Actions Karl...how about you write us a meaningful piece about your very troubling, offensive, and possibly illegal actions. That, or show up on July 10, and tell us all about it. Someone will be there to write it all down for you in the congressional record. SIDE BAR - The WSJ's editorial slant has so declined and shifted since the purchase of the paper and realignment of leadership there, that I can almost not read it anymore. It is quite sad to me. Like watching a good, trusted friend, one who was smart and intelligent and helpful, loose that capacity to some insipid brainwashing or disease. A real loss to the business community and America as a whole. Thanks. John
King James BibleAnd let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17).
His wisdom has awakened and sharpened us. Obama is our friend. He sees our needs and he is being positioned to address our needs.
