| |
|
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
|
|
Political Wire: "Sen. Barack Obama, surging among younger voters, has cut Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead among Pennsylvania likely Democratic primary voters to 6 points, 49% to 43%, after trailing by 16 points just two weeks ago, according to a new Quinnipiac poll."
Digby: "The country wants change. They want Washington to stop all the partisan bickering and they want a different tone. They want their government to be serious and deal with real problems."
More...
Can someone please explain to me how that can possibly happen until something is done about the reprehensible political press? From tax returns to Farrakhan to footage shown by "mistake" to the endless, trivial, gotcha bullshit, this debate spectacle tonight was a classic demonstration of what people really hate about politics. It isn't actually the candidates who can at least on occasion be substantive and serious. The problem is Tim Russert and all his petty, shallow acolytes who spend all their time reading Drudge and breathlessly reporting every tabloid tidbit and sexy rumor and seeking out minor inconsistencies from years past in lieu of doing any real work.
Judging by their silly questions tonight, Russert and Williams obviously know nothing about health care policy, Iraq, Islamic terrorism, economics, global trade or any other subject that requires more than five minutes study to come up with some gotcha question or a stupid Jack Bauer fantasy. It's embarrassing.
The Moderate Voice.
Why Barack Obama Is Unfit To Be President: His father was a Muslim. He doesn't have to go first in debates. He sometimes dresses like a foreigner. He's too young. He experimented with drugs as a teenager. He's naive. He has an unfair campaign spending advantage. He's not a war hero. He bought a house from a slumlord who once had a business deal with a former accomplice of Saddam Hussein. His middle name is Hussein. Louis Farrakhan endorsed him. Lou Dobbs plans to endorse him. Tina Fey doesn't like him. His superdelegates are committed to him. He doesn't try to retaliate when attacked. He's a radical centrist. He once was invited to a coffee klatch at the home of a former Weather Underground member. He's a cult leader. He hasn't had to lay off any campaign workers. He doesn't cry on cue. He doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin. He's not black enough. He's a secret Manchurian Candidate put up by radical Islamists. He's too charismatic. The news media is biased for him. He doesn't have to tone down his rhetoric. His campaign is organized from the bottom up. He doesn't have enough experience. When people offer him lines for his speeches he uses them. He's a leftist. He once had a teacher who was a Communist. He refuses to play the race card. He wants to withdraw American troops from Iraq. He doesn't engage in fear mongering. He lives in Chicago. He'll take away votes from Ralph Nader. His wife says she only recently found a reason to be proud of America. He's no Mike Huckabee. He scares the Washington defense establishment. He hasn't been able to attract elderly white woman voters. He's an idealist. He keeps giving the same damned speech.
How the heck can anyone believe in this guy, let alone vote for him?
Political Wire: "A new Research 2000 poll in Vermont shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton, 53% to 39%. In the GOP race, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 52% to 32%."
Political Wire: "A new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democrats nationally, 48% to 42%, the first time in the poll that's he's been ahead. In Janurary, Clinton held a 9 point lead. However, in a general-election match-up among registered voters, Sen. John McCain runs 2 points ahead of Obama, within the margin of error; he beats Clinton by 6 points."
"2008 pres"
5:44:18 PM 
|
|
The Moderate Voice: "Say what you will about William F. Buckley's contributions to conservatism and civil discourse. They were immense. But he picked a really lousy time to die.
Don Surber: "God needed some intelligent conversation."
Mt. Virtus: "While very few writers and speakers have ever had a greater facility with the English language than Buckley did, there was much more to him than the elegance of his prose."
5:28:03 PM
|
|
Here's an article about the newly formed Water Utility Climate Alliance from The Modesto Bee. They write:
Eight of the nation's largest water providers from California to New York announced the formation of a coalition to develop strategies on dealing with climate change. The newly formed Water Utility Climate Alliance includes the giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Members, which together provide water to more than 36 million people, also include Denver Water, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the Portland (Ore.) Water Bureau, Seattle Public Utilities and the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
"Our systems are facing risk due to diminishing snowpack, bigger storms, more frequent drought and rising sea levels," said Susan Leal, general manager of the San Francisco commission and chair of the newly formed authority. "We need to be organized to respond to these risks - that's why we've formed this alliance." The group has been in the works since 2007, after San Francisco hosted a water utility climate change summit that drew more than 200 executives and government officials. In September, the eight agencies gathered to further discuss the impacts of climate change and began studying existing research. "The whole goal was to wrap our arms around the potential impacts of climate change on water infrastructure and water supplies," said Bronson Mack, a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Over a series of conference calls, Mack said the newly formed group has developed a list of goals that include expanding climate change research, collaborating on adaptation tools and identifying greenhouse gas emissions from individual operations.
Good idea.
"colorado water"
7:21:46 AM
|
|
Business Wire: "The colors red and blue always dominate during an election year. But this year, green is also showing up across the political spectrum as the presidential candidates look to leverage their positions on environmental sustainability to win votes. Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee are making their cases to win Green voters."
More...
From developing plans to increase biofuels production and create clean energy jobs, to decreasing foreign oil consumption, each of the candidates have made environmental sustainability a priority in their campaigns. Catalina Marketing, which prints targeted communications at checkout based on purchase behavior in more than 22,000 stores nationwide, recently conducted research into the Green shopper and wondered, "Do Green shoppers translate to Green voters?" Green shoppers were identified as individuals who made purchases from a list of products from leading brands promoted as eco-friendly between April 2006 and April 2007. A shopper's home state was determined by the location of the store where they do most of their shopping.
Where do Green consumers shop and will their state of residence have an impact on how they will vote in November? Results determined that the Democratic (blue) states had a higher than average proportion of Green shoppers than Republican (red) states. In establishing the states as red or blue, Catalina looked at the state voting records in the last three U.S. presidential elections and focused on the states that remained consistently Democratic or Republican. The research did yield a few surprising results. For instance, the Democratic state of California - often seen as a healthy place to live - indexed at the average for the number of Green shoppers. California's neighbors, Oregon and Washington, both ranked well above the average. Of the Republican states, Colorado and Alaska both ranked above average in their tendency to have Green shoppers, with Alaska beating out even blue states Oregon and Washington. The top five Green states most likely to have Green shoppers in order are: Alaska (red), Washington (blue), Oregon (blue), Colorado (red) and Vermont (blue). The states least likely to have Green shoppers, in order, are: Oklahoma (red), Alabama (red), Minnesota (blue), North Dakota (red) and Wisconsin (blue).
"2008 pres"
6:28:31 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:10:27 PM.
|
|
|
