A blogger gets elected

An interesting footnote to the 2006 mid-term elections is that a New Hampshire blogger was elected to the Legislature this year in the Democratic sweep. Margaret Evans Porter was elected to the Merrimack County District 8 seat, placing third out of eight candidates, and even helping to unseat popular Republican State Rep. Tony Soltani, an opponent of civil unions, who placed fifth. Politizine asked her a few questions about her campaign and why she decided to run.

Politizine: Why did you decide to forward yourself as a candidate?

Margaret Evans Porter: The short answer is that I believe in public and community service. I've been involved in different ways, but this is my first time holding a position in government.

I ran for the same office four years ago, when our district had been newly expanded to include Hooksett--which was a very inappropriate match, demographically, with Allenstown, Epsom and Pittsfield. At that time I said if another re-districting occurred, removing Hooksett, I would strongly consider running again. It did, and I did. I had a sense that the Democratic Party might ask me to run. I made an independent decision to run again, so by the time I was contacted (which I eventually was), I had already filed my candidacy.

P: In what ways did your skill as a writer and blogger help your campaign? Did voters know you were a blogger?

MEP: Writing skills always come in handy when putting together ad copy, and writing/designing a candidate flier for mail-out! Because of the public nature of my writing career, I'm comfortable with public events and talking to people.

My blog readers--all over the world--knew I was running for office. I blogged on the day I filed. As far as I know, the voters didn't know I was a blogger, except for the voter who lives in my household. Some of them surely knew I am a writer.

A lot of people voted for me who don't know me and never met me. I suspect they made their choice more for my party affiliation than any other factor. I will work hard to live up to this act of faith!

P: What are the three top issues you plan on working on and why?

MEP: The most important issue facing the entire Legislature is defining educational adequacy, because we have a deadline for that. Then a funding mechanism will have to be decided and agreed upon--I have no pre-determined agenda.

I would support a raise in the minimum wage, and substantial LCHIP funding. Safeguarding our environment and protecting natural resources is a priority.

P: Describe your district and tell me about some of the issues facing voters in your area.

MEP: My district is made up of three towns strung along the Suncook River. Each has a population of between 4,500 and 5,000 people. In addition to population, they have similarities in their demographics and history, and available services. However similar the residents may be, each town has a distinct character.

There are plenty of small business owners and the self-employed in this district. For them most especially, health care and health insurance are enormous concerns.

The towns also serve as "bedroom" communities for many people working in Concord, including many state employees.

Each town is a hub for small local businesses and outposts of larger companies (fast food outlets, gas stations, etc.) There are still several working farms (mostly dairy), and tracts of undeveloped land--rapidly being developed, which is good for the loggers and the developers and people looking for homes and good quality of life. But the added population has an impact on the schools and the other town services--there is disagreement about whether such growth can actually pay for itself. Epsom has a master plan and limits on building permits.

All three towns have budgets that are stretched. Pittsfield has a low tax base and extremely high property taxes, and struggles to support the schools. Allenstown, which incorporates Suncook village, is the largest town in terms of infrastructure and population. Epsom operates under default budgets for school and for town budget, because it instituted SB2 (ballot voting), and lately both budgets have been voted down at the polls.

Both Allenstown and Pittsfield were plaintiff towns in the Claremont lawsuit, so the educational funding issue is great importance.

Everybody has issues with escalating property taxes, and the impact of more frequent re-evaluations by state or local mandate.

P: No one can remember exactly the last time the Democrats had control of the state legislature, the state senate, the executive council, and the governor's seat. What do you think some of the challenges will be for Democrats in the next session?

MEP: The Democrats are unsure exactly what their mandate is, other than change. For whatever reason, the divided government was voted out--by a combination of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans.

That said, our governor has set a high standard for bi-partisanship, and it's my hope--and intention--to follow his example, because working majorities are necessary for progress. The greatest danger for Democrats is over-reaching, or making the wrong assumptions about why they were swept in to power in such great (and unprecedented) numbers. So far, from what I've gleaned from the press, and from talking to people, they seem to know this.

I'd really like to know the impact of the changes to the ballot, and the re-ordering in an attempt to add fairness to the process. For all we know, Democratic majorities might have occurred sooner, if we'd had a different ballot!

Crossposted at Area603.com

Democratic tsunami ...

...is an understatement and the Republicans should be pretty happy that the election wasn't held two weeks ago before John Kerry shot his mouth off or the damage probably could have been much worse.
There were a lot of firsts tonight and the Democratic wins were downright astonishing.
Here in the state of New Hampshire, the Democrats are poised to take control of the State House ... for the first time since 1911! They will take control of the state senate, the executive council, and will hold the corner office, with Gov. John Lynch winning by a landslide.
The people of our great state elected its first female representative to Congress, a social worker and mother from Rochester, Carol Shea-Porter. A virtual unknown just six months ago, Shea-Porter shocked everyone by beating a better financed Democratic insider endorsed by everyone. She proved that yeah, in America, anyone can be elected to the People's House. They also elected Paul Hodes handily in the Second Congressional District.
If fact, the Democrats took the House tonight, gaining seats in red states all across the country. In January, Rep. Nancy Pelosi - not someone I particular like, but she isn't Newt Gingrich either - will become the first female Speaker of the House.
As of this writing, the Democrats held their own in the Senate, picking up three seats, including clobbering Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, a guy who was floating himself as presidential timber, by 18 percent. This guy was openly advocating bombing Iran into the Stone Age. This, from a man who claims to follow the path of Christ.
The first Muslim-American was elected to the Congress from Minnesota. Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old Democrat has one the seat, which according to AP has been held by Dems for more than 40 years.

The key now will be to figure out a way to keep the Democrats in check and not let them go crazy with gun control and other nonsense like they did when Clinton was in office.

I would also like to congratulate a couple of acquaintances of mine in Massachusetts who did swell tonight. My good friend James O'Keefe virtually doubled his percentage in this year's Treasurer's race, getting 17.2 percent of the vote. In 2002, he received 9 percent of the vote. Dr. Jill Stein received 17.7 percent of the vote for Secretary of State. These returns by O'Keefe and Stein guarantee the Green-Rainbow Party will have major party status for the next two years, including in the presidential race in 2008. In addition, acquaintance Rand Wilson, a man who swore off independent years ago, received 21.5 percent of the vote in his race for Auditor, establishing the Working Families Party as a major party in Massachusetts as well. Congratulations!

Lastly for tonight, because after four hours of election night coverage on WKXL 1450, I'm a bit tired, congratulations to Howard Dean for having the guts to implement a 50-state strategy to make Democrats competitive in precincts where they never were competitive before. It worked, Howard, and you were right to ignore the naysayers.

In the coming weeks, when I get a chance, I will re-analyze the issue of electronic voting. I think tonight, we can put the Diebold conspiracies to bed. But that doesn't change the need for paper ballots to be installed in all precincts across the country. I will also put together what I believe is the second thing the new Democratic-controlled Congress needs to implement: The re-regulation of media and the reimplementation of The Fairness Doctrine.

VOTE

Don't forget to vote today. In New Hampshire, the polls are opened from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; in Mass., they are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. No matter who you vote for, get out and vote. It really is that important.

Article roundup

Here is a bunch of stuff I haven't had a chance to post lately.

Let's start with this one first: ["Newspaper circulations continue to fall"]. It is really sad to see the decline of the newspaper industry. Newspapers are a great tool. Most are important to society. But in some ways, you can understand why newspapers are in decline. There is an arrogance and elitism about some of them unlike any other industry I have ever encountered.

Of course, the Internet and technology has had a role in the demise of newspapers and there is no fighting technology. But, should they embrace every aspect of it? Here is an interesting note about a new feature over at the New York Times: ["NYTimes.com Launches Daily 'Urbanite' Email on City Living"].
Congrats to Adam Reilly over at the Phoenix: ["Boston Phoenix’s Adam Reilly to Revive Weekly Media Column']. I am soooo jealous! You can get a sense of his writing here in this great analysis of WRKO: ["Republican radio"].

Here is an interesting column by a Republican who is leaving the party and not voting for Sen. George Allen in Virginia: ["I should be supporting Allen. Instead, I'm leaving the party"].

Here is more on the Kerry situation: ["Kerry's '72 Army Comments Mirror Latest"].

Here is a nice editorial in the Boston Globe which surprisingly congratulates the Mass. Green-Rainbow Party for forwarding more candidates than the MassGOP: ["Downballot doldrums"]. What a change in how to look at things. It took them long enough!

This is not surprising and I would bet will soon become a standing head: ["Glitches cited in early voting"].

This may not be: ["U.S. Investigates Voting Machines’ Venezuela Ties"].

This is bumming me out, probably the best new show on television: ["'Studio 60’ Cancellation Imminent"].

And a movie I can't wait to see: ["Shut up and sing"].

One week left ...

"... on the cover of the Rolling Stone ..."

Sometimes, a political cartoon - or any cartoon for that matter - really hits the nail right on the head. Here is the cover of the next edition of Rolling Stone - the week before Election Day in one of the nastiest mid-term elections that I've ever seen. As it has been for six years now, the nation is essentially split in two. And once again, the moneyed interests don't give a damn about the regular folks. To them, this isn't about making the nation better, it is about raw, unadulterated power. Pure and simple. A pox on both their houses. Go out and vote for the lesser of two evils and hope for the best.

Either way, Kerry's kinda right
Sen. John Kerry ... soulless yuppie ... a hapless Democratic nominee and a worthless three term senator. I've written all about it before so I don't really have to write about it again. But yesterday, Kerry finally told a truth ... or did he?
At a rally about education, Kerry stated that, "Education, you know, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Conservatives went after Kerry for essentially telling the truth about war. They went after him for telling the truth about what happens to kids who don't have any other options other than to sign up for the military. What most of us know is that po' folk have been fighting the wars that these chickenhawks put together, wars which the chickenhawks and their kids will never fight in because they get into the best schools and have the best connections. Many of these wars are useless wars. As Ralph Nader states so eloquently, If Iraq's main export was carrots instead of oil, we wouldn't be there. Let's be honest: It has been a tradition in this country to send the the lower class kids out to die in wars so that the upper class kids and their trust funds can grow.
But Kerry later corrected himself and said he was mangling a joke and was actually speaking about the president not getting a proper education and now being stuck in Iraq.
However, unlike before, Kerry didn't just sit there and take the criticism from the chickenhawks. He came out swinging:

"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. And this time it won't work because we're going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq ."

Wow. Who is this person? Where has this person been? Now don't get me wrong: I'm no fan of Kerry's and he probably should have known better than to spout off a joke like that which some might take offense to. I wouldn't have said something like this or I would have gotten the punch line down.
But at the same time, everyone knows that is a hard decision to put your life on the line for the country even if the country's government is making bad decisions with your life. Many of us who've matured since the end of the draft and the lousy economy of the 1970s, have had recruiters at our doors, paper and pen in hand. At the same time, we also looked away realizing that we were staring at no real future. Whether you have economic choices or not shouldn't have any influence on the decision to serve. If you want to serve, you should serve; if you don't want to serve, you should have other economic options and other options than just years of school to flip burgers.
Whatever Kerry's purpose for the comments, as a veteran, unlike Limboob, Dick Cheney, Tony Snow, Karl Rove, and a whole slew of others, he has earned the right to be critical. He led and bled in one of our government's stupid wars. He served with others and knows this to be true unlike those other blowhards. I also know as a lower middle class kid that there weren't many options for folks like us. Many of us joined - or thought about joining - because we didn't have options which others in America had, running the risk of being sent into some stupid war zone which we had no business being in. With recuiters and TV and radio commercials pimping money for college and other benies to sign up, only a liar would say that some of Kerry's comments weren't dead on correct. If you're a poor kid who didn't do well in school and didn't have any other options, yeah, you probably considered signing up for military service and now you're stuck in Iraq. And, if you are a pinhead president listening to the worst of the worst in your administration, some of the most evil people on the planet, who advise you to kill innocent women and children, who advise you to ignore your "political hero" Jesus Christ who clearly stated in the Book of Matthew what the rules to live by were, then you get stuck in Iraq.
I don't see the problem in these comments. They may insult some people but those people shouldn't be insulted by the truth. They should face it, fix the problem, and move on. But again, that isn't what absolute power is about, now is it?

Let's Active
I've been thinking about the mid-1980s jangle pop band Let's Active for about two months now. They came into my mind as I was searching for music to download on emusic.com. At the end of the month, I have to use all my downloads or lose them. So, I'm always trying to find stuff I would like, like replacing my vinyl with mp3s or obscure stuff I've always wanted to get.
Let's Active was one of those bands which isn't listed on emusic.com but I began to think about how happy listening to them always made me feel at the time. Since I only have them on LP and my record player isn't hooked up, I haven't been able to listen to them. And since I've been under a bit of stress lately, and needed some really upbeat jangle pop music, I decided to start looking for some of the band's music online. I thought about hooking my record player back up to record them to CD but then remembered that I was out of blank CDs which work with my burning deck. Plus, when would I have the time to burn them anyway? So, I went to a couple of music stores and not so surprisingly, I couldn't find anything by the band.
Thankfully, I had a gift certificate for BN.com lying around here and decided to look and see if they had the CDs, which they did! And the past two days I've been listening to Mitch Easter's Rickenbackers clang and chime away with prickly, reverb drenched chords. Their hummable tunes sung with the baby soft, cutesy vocals of Easter and Faye Hunter, and almost heavenly harmonies. Pure joy. "It's Saturday ... the day you waste a week for ..." Oh, how I miss those days.

Election Day is coming

I haven't been blogging a lot about politics lately. For whatever reason, I'm kinda burnt on it. Plus, the polls say the Dems are going to sweep into Congress and the Senate in a few weeks and I just don't believe it.
I mean, in his Sunday column, Kevin Landrigan of the Nashua Telegraph cited a Becker Institute poll saying that Paul Hodes was in the lead against U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass, 48 to 39, with 13 percent undecided: ["Lynch airs his picks"]. Another poll by Becker also shows U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley with a lead against Carol Shea-Porter, 49 to 37, with 14 percent undecided. This is kinda shocking considering NH-CD 1 is considered a safe Republican seat. A 12 point lead is pretty safe - but not with 14 percent undecided.
Over the last month or so, I've been wondering about the Hodes campaign. It seems a tad lazy, almost not there in many ways.
I've been wondering about this since I found out that his campaign fired media rep. Michael Shea & Associates last month. Shea is one of the better Boston ad guys who has worked with all the top candidates. He knows the region and he is a hometown guy. According to Shea, he had been working with Hodes for more than two years and then was dropped like a hot potato for a big D.C. firm. Shea wouldn't comment on the record about the situation but you could tell that he was pretty hurt by the whole thing.
Not long after the sacking of Shea, Hodes went on the air with this almost silly TV ad attacking Bass for his Iraq votes, stating "I've got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you ..." The ads though say nothing about himself or what he would do if elected. Bass quickly cut the ad up into pieces and showed Hodes saying, "We cannot just abandon Iraq ..." while at the same time campaigning to bring the troops home.
The ads were put together by Tom King Communications, an ad firm from Virginia, but they say nothing about Hodes.
Mike Pride, the editor of the Concord Monitor, posted this piece on his blog recently about Hodes' mailers: ["Hodes's folly"]. Mike makes some good points, especially in light of the sarcastic TV ads.
Compare this to Shea-Porter's tenacity in her race, pounding home the issues and standing tall against insurmountable odds. There doesn't seem to be any waivering with her. There doesn't seem to be any sarcasm either.
Lastly, in the wake of the Rep. Mark Foley page/instant message scandal, and Hodes criticism of Bass on the issue, one has to wonder why no one has yet analyzed the lyrics of the Hodes co-penned "Oscar Wilde" opera. The racy opera debuted last spring and I had to heavily edit before airing. The lyric about Wilde lamenting the fact that he couldn't have sex with boys and live like the Romans did would turn just about anyone's stomach.
And yet, here is what Hodes said about the Foley scandal to AP

"Look at it this way, if Mark Foley was a teacher in the school and Dennis Hastert was the principal and the principal learned that the teacher was sending Internet messages to a student, asking for pictures and having the kinds of conversations that were had...what would have happened? There would have been an outcry. There would have been action taken."

Don't get me wrong: I like Paul and it is probably time for Bass to go. While we should fear no art and maybe Wilde did have such thoughts in his head, do we really need to know about them? And why would Hodes work on such an opera a few months before announcing his campaign to run for Congress? These issues and the sarcastic ads which tell us nothing about Hodes, make one wonder if he is the best candidate to replace Bass.

Teddy shows up!
Quite by accident, I caught the tailend of the debate between Sen. Ted Kennedy and Republican challenger Ken Chase on NECN. Chase was hammering away at the illegal alien issue while Teddy was making excuses about the bogus guest worker program.
But give the guy credit: He showed up to face his challenger. That was more than he did in 2000 when he faced challenges from black Republican Jack E. Robinson and Uzi-toting Libertarian Carla Howell - who almost beat Jack E. And that was more than Rep. Michael Capuano did in 1998 after he won the Democratic nomination and hid in Somerville City Hall and wouldn't face his three rivals for the seat. And that was more than a slew of others who don't bother to face their challengers because they think it is beneath them.

The nation is in a state of emergency when...
... "Jackass Number Two" is the top movie: ["Jackass 2" Knocks out Box Office For #1]. Oh man.

... a guy like this actually thinks he could run for president without someone finding out he is a racist: ["Teammates: Allen used "N-word" in college"]. It's one thing to use the N-word - tons of people do that and don't mean it. It is quite another thing to be from the South, to comfortably use the N-word, "macaca," and some of the other things, like this clown has been doing.

... our pols and commentators are attacking President Hugo Chavez for speaking his opinion on the international soil that is the United Nations building but those same people are silent when similar words come out of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a man of the cloth: ["Falwell acknowledges Clinton comment"]. Note to Boston City Councilor Jerry McDermott - Go back to civics class my old friend: The United Nations is considered international soil inside the United States; the same way a country's embassy is considered their soil inside the United States. Don't go off half-cocked into nonesenseland, bud.

... a political consultant and advisor for our nation's president even seriously considers bragging about an "October Surprise" in order to maintain control: ["Surprise for November elections?"]. Speaking of maintaining control, anyone notice the gas prices? In Dallas, heading to the airport in a shuttle, I noticed a sign for gas: $2.18 per gallon. I gasped and blurted out: "$2.18 a gallon? Wow, someone really doesn't want the Republicans to lose control of Congress." Everyone laughed - all radio people - and then the driver, who I believe was from India, stated that it was $2.13 right outside his house that morning. The driver, a guy from Long Beach, and I started having an interesting conversation about the state of the world, cars, and other things. It made for an interesting ride, to say the least.

Christy Mihos' TV ad

I just saw Christy Mihos' 30-second spot on Channel 7 ... and it is totally hilarious: It starts with a cartoon of Mihos standing outside the State House with "The Big Dig, Explained" above the character in big letters. Mihos then asks a Bechtel contractor, "How did the Big Dig get $12 billion over-budget?" The contractor - another cartoon character - said, "Well, you see ..." and then sticks his head up his ass and starts walking around!
At this point, I took my headphones off and said, "What the hell is this?"
Mihos, then turns to some men and women, including one blonde woman who looks like "Muffy" Healey and asks the same question. "Massachusetts Politicians," as they are labeled, stick their heads up their asses and start walking around mumbling!
Then, about 10 minutes later, it played again: A double dose in the news. Nice job.

Why Mihos needs the ads: Take a look at this poll: ["Mass. Gov."]. First, I seriously doubt this poll. Patrick at 64 percent? No way. Healey could probably be that low. The same with Mihos and Ross. But who are the Other who are getting 3 percent? There are no other candidates. Mickey Mouse? Donald Duck? The margin of error is 4 percent.

Calling Roy Morrison: Roy Morrison, a Warner poet, environmentalist and columnist who sends me stuff sometimes, gave Al Gore his recent book called "Taxing Pollution, Not Income," and it seems as though Gore likes the idea: ["Gore says tax pollution, not payrolls"]. Wow. I will be interviewing Roy about this and other things when his new book comes out in October.

Post-NAB roundup: Because the NAB Education Foundation was able to line up a table at a Job Fair for me, I ended up missing the last two Friday events at NAB, including the one with Ariana Huffington. But, I don't think I was alone in missing the events.
After setting up for the Job Fair, I went looking for a cup of coffee and took one more pass through the NAB Bookstore to order the entire NAB event on CDR. Shockingly, the exhibit hall was closed and exhibitors were breaking down all their gear. This was surprisingly because last year in Philadelphia, the booths were still up on Friday morning and there was some last minute trading going on between customers and vendors. But not here: The Hilton was barren.
I grabbed a cup of coffee from the SESAC refreshment area and headed back to the Job Fair, almost running into Sean Hannity, blurry-eyed, heading towards the NAB area.
At the Job Fair, I met a bunch of interesting candidates and, as I have said before, I continue to be surprised by all the interesting people, with their diverse backgrounds, looking to get into the radio business. During one of the side conversations between a woman visiting with me and the guy in the booth next to me, she mentioned that attendance was down almost 20 percent from last year, allegedly, even though there were 3,100 people in attendance. This doesn't surprise me at all since it seemed empty. But what do I know?

Headline Roundup
Yeah, it's been awhile and I have been busy, on vacation, but at the same time, saving up a slew of links to share. So, as Casey Kasem would say, On with the countdown.

Usama bin Ladin protected by Pakistan?
A couple of days ago, there was a story posted by Brian Ross, an investigative reporter with ABC News, which stated that Pakinstan had reached a no capture deal with bin Ladin. It was posted on Ross' Web site at ABC News called The Blotter. Here is the link which no longer works: ["Bin Laden gets ..."]. It looks like they have pulled the story. Nothing on Google News leads to anything about this report. There is a lot about bin Ladin being elusive and the trail being cold but not a lot about the Ross report. Update: I was able to find this by Googling, a mea culpa of sorts from the Pakistani government. Boy, that was fast!: ["Pakistan Denies Bin Laden Gets a Pass"].

The Londonderry gas price war
WMUR-TV Channel 9 reported Sunday night that a gas station in Londonderry off I-93 Exit 4 dropped its price to $2.25 and a price war ensued! Three other gas stations have dropped their price. At one station, the Mobil, the station ran out of gas. I noticed a price drop over the course of the week and mentioned to my wife that it was nice to be paying $2.55 a gallon even though that is way too high. Does anyone else wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that there is a mid-term election about to happen?

Recession coming?
I thought we were already in one: ["Recession will be nasty and deep, economist says"]. Housing sales drop; foreclosures rise; gas prices are squeezing every spare dime from your pocket; jobs aren't paying enough and Americans don't actually make anything anymore. Gee, do you think a recession is coming?

Reclassifying everything
What is this government so afraid of? Are they really afraid of John Lennon - 26 years after his death? Or, is this just a standard the government plans on making all the time and Hey, what the heck, let's go way, way back ... Wow, indeed: ["John Lennon - Still a Security Threat"].

This is interesting
["Al Gore Says He Hasn't Ruled Out 2nd Run"]. It should be third run, since he was also a candidate in 1988, but, what do they know, they are foreigners. The key quote is this though:

"I haven't completely ruled out running for president again in the future but I don't expect to."

Eh, so is that he hasn't completely ruled out running or that he doesn't expect to rule out a run? I'm confused.
All kidding aside, I will say that the Al Gore of 2006 isn't the Al Gore who was VP or the candidate in 2000. He is either different or it is a good ruse. A lot of Dems seem to be going through this lately. And the fact that he calls Ralph Nader "my friend" while signing his new book [Gore signs book] while Democrats are still seething about Nader and his current/former supporters is a testament of its own.

This is what they call journalists these days? Yikes!
["10 Miami journalists take U.S. pay"]. It kinda makes you wonder what all these people would do if they had to get real jobs somewhere else, doing something else. And I can think of a ton of things which our government could do with the $37 million going to this program.

What your money in Iraq is building
Protecting Sara Lee indeed: ["Bush 'Palace' Shielded from Iraqi Storm"].

More candidates being kept out of debates
Check this one out - I actually saw a clip of one of the candidates getting dragged away in cuffs on FoxNews: ["Candidate Arrested After Protesting Exclusion from Debate"].
Eighteen candidates in a primary is a lot. But if you don't get the coverage, you don't get the donations, and you don't get the polling position, which means you don't get the support, which means you don't get the coverage. It is a big circle. Why not do two debates, each an hour long, with nine candidates? Or, do a two hour debate with all the candidates? If they are on the ballot, they should be given equal access and time to television and radio. That is the responsibility of those companies who have the broadcast licenses. It is interesting that the FCC cares about every little thing a radio station does but they don't give a damn about this stuff at all.

R.I.P.: Bruce Gary
Who is Bruce Gary you might ask? Well, he is the original drummer for the band The Knack. He died of cancer last month I found out quite by accident after downloading "Live from the Rock 'n' Roll Funhouse" a live album on emusic.com. The concert, from 2001, is actually pretty good and shows that the material the band put out between 1979 and 1981, really holds up and stands the test of time. There are a few more songs here from later released which really didn't catch on like "My Sharona" and "Good Girls Don't," but they do sound good and it does take you back to yesterday. The band set up a tribute site for Bruce here: ["Bruce Gary Tribute"].

Mass. Dem Debate
Crossposted at Talking Politics Blog
I too watched the debate and actually thought all three did pretty well considering the situation - a dead-heat, three-way primary, a couple of weeks from Election Day, with millions flying around and accusations flying every which way. However, I also think we can all agree that any one of them would be better than Mitt "Guy Smiley" Romney.

I don't know about Kerry Murphy Healey yet. I know she is very smart and actually quite charming when you meet her in person. But I don't know how she would actually govern. Having seen some of her moves over at the MassGOP, there is reason to wonder how she would run the state. Although, again, anything would be better than Romney right now.

I liked Mihos and his message. Being an “unbought and unbossed” indie myself, I was really intrigued by his run. However, he lost any and all credibility with me when he picked John Sullivan, the town moderator of Winchester, as his running mate. Since I used to be the editor of The Winchester Star, I know Sullivan all too well and believe me, the man is unqualified to be the second in command. While I couldn’t prove the guy was dirty, it sure felt like he was.

Anyhow, I listened to both WRKO talkers John DiPetro and Howie Carr the day after the debate – hey, I was on the Cape and nothing else was on the radio except classical music, which I also enjoyed over the past few days. DiPetro had Andy Hiller on and I only caught a bit of it before getting out of the car. Hiller talked about nailing Reilly with a Big Dig question – and nail him he did. Reilly has been asleep at the wheel on that although he was correct to point out that this project has been run – and overseen – by Republicans. But Reilly hasn’t done enough as AG to look at this thing or prosecute the criminals. And that is because the Dems and the unions have had their fingers in the batter the entire time Bechtel and Republican governors have been driving it into the ground.

I also agree with Carr’s points about Reilly: Reilly came out swinging and needed to. While it may have seemed like bitching to some, as Carr noted, that is what politics is about. It is about hardball. It is about nailing the other guy if you can with whatever you have. Especially if you are losing, like Reilly seems to be. And, Reilly needed to do something and that is kinda all he had. 'I've been with the regular folks ...' and you know, he has for the most part. Working folks in Meffa, Revere, Dot, and all those other towns – folks who actually vote not pseudo progressives who talk and don't act – know this and will be out for him. His ads also work as do Gabrieli's, IMHO. While some will be upset with the Conte thing, it won't be enough for him to lose. I still think he could win, despite what polls say. There is a silent majority out there that pollsters never talk to.

Also, an interesting point was made by one of Carr’s callers: Reilly kept saying ‘The voters know where I stand’ and the caller stated that Louise Day Hicks was the last pol to use that slogan [“You know where I stand …”] as a veiled message asking white voters to support her in her mayoral races from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Hicks was an anti-busing School Committee member from Southie who was elected to the U.S. Congress for one term. Joe Moakley, who bypassed the primary and ran as an independent, later ousted her in a brutal election in 1972. She later became the first woman president on the Boston City Council. Hmm.

Gabrieli was on his game, directly making his succinct points, over and over again. He was also towering over the other two. Having debated with him before, back in 1998, I found him to be a very easy-going and likable guy. But, he is a towering figure. And watching him the other night and realizing how he stood over the other two had to have a mental presence on voters.

I think the Ameriquest thing – as well as Killer Coke – hurts "For it all" Deval. All the inspirational speeches in the world don't make up for the fact that a person has been in the tank with the corporate whores for years and years. Gabrieli can point to hundreds – if not thousands – of jobs he has created. His plan will clearly create more. Reilly can point to other things he has done. What has Patrick actually done? He also didn't look well on TV. While Gabrieli and Reilly looked cool and calm, Deval was sweatin' up a storm.

Having hung around with a slew of progressives over the years, I don't get the obsession with Deval Patrick. So he is black. Big deal. If he wasn't, none of these 20,000 people would be backing him.
For example, let’s say Deval Patrick wasn’t black and was named, Daveo Patricino or David McPatrick, would they be goo-goo over him? No, of course not. Say he was from the North End or Southie instead of the South Side, and worked his way through Harvard, they would look at Ameriquest and Killer Coke and run away in droves.

Update:
Dan Kennedy has a round up on some of the media coverage: ["It's Almost Unanimous"].

Update 2:
It's 12:57 a.m. and I have just seen a second Deval Patrick political ad, right at the end of SNL. Is he trying to appeal to the insomniac crowd? Ads at this hour are a waste of money ... unless TV ads are a lot cheaper than they were in 1998, when spots in the 6 and 11 p.m. news hours were going for thousands.

Lamont Shows Majority Still Has a Voice
I'm too busy thinking right now to write so I will post this guest perspective by my old bud Ralph Lopez who has a pretty good take on things right now:

Now that the train to restore America's long-abused middle-class has resoundingly left the station, the test of how Democrats have matured politically will be how well they attack Republican hypocrisy while staying on-message with the Six for '06 Agenda, which was stolen from this website by the Democratic leadership, thank you very much.
Make no mistake, the Hillary-Billary-Rahmmanuel-Reid Axis didn't suddenly decide to do the right thing. It was FORCED on them, not least by the writing on the wall represented by the Lamont tidal wave that peaked last Tuesday.
Almost a year ago we and other Americans called for primary challengers to the "Lame Democrats," and our prayers were answered. Lamont in CT, Tasini against Billary Inc. And now we have the greatest bunch of straight-talking, ass-kicking candidates poised to take over congress that this country has seen in a long time, patriot-FBI-whistleblower Colleen Rowley, Bob Bowen, Eric Massa, Tammy Duckworth, and the rest of the blunt, war veteran, take-no-shit-from-these-NeoCon-bastards crew, the Band of Brothers (bandofbrothers2006.org).
The Loser "Centrists," and the lawyer-DLC-consultant-strategists who deep down don't care who wins as long as their millions are safe, talk as if a winning campaign isn't supposed to talk and chew gum at the same time. You don't attack because - oooo! - they call us angry and negative, no ideas! You don't get specific on issues because - oooo! - they say we are going to raise taxes! Until now, the Democratic party has been one masterly exercise in how to lose elections without looking like you are trying to. Who cares? It's not their kids bleeding in the sand. And the corporate money contributions keep rolling in to both sides just the same. The most important constituent to these fat, amoral slugs is their Beamer mechanic.
To Ned and Jon Tasini and the Band of Brothers. You guys have made me proud to be an American again. You can't even know what that means.
The Joe Lieberman-Hillary Axis isn't the "center," because WE are. That's a fiction whose lifespan is about up. Bill Clinton took over the party by jerking the wheel hard to the right while fishtailing left on social issues, making the NARAL SUV surburban soccer moms the center of gravity. With a deft move from the podium Bill kicked half the country over the ledge so he'd only have to worry about the other half. The half with money. Some more, some less. But some. And since reporters love to bandy about labels like "centrist,"
"moderate," and "left-wing" because it saves them from doing real work so they can get to the bars and start the serious drinking that much sooner, the only way to counter the spin will be to repeat the positions, exactly as Lamont has been doing.
Stop waste and fraud in healthcare so more people can be insured? That's "left-wing?" Make top colleges affordable for everyone? That's the radical fringe?
Well, I reckon you better mark me down as one, what a kick in the head.
"The Six for '06 agenda is a carbon copy of my New Contract for America, which I have been emailing to Democratic honchos for years. Ask Tom Vallely, Kerry's Dog Soldier campaign buddy over at the Kennedy School.
And a real nice guy. The high point for any activist is to get his ideas stolen. That's what you work for; that's the measure of success. And you, my small but influential audience, have done it again, whatever you are doing.
Ever since John Kerry decided to go with calling Iraq a "distraction" from the real war on terror in the first presidential debate, splitting Iraq off from the "central front" status the Republicans badly need it to have in peoples' minds, you have been shaping the debate.
It's too bad Kerry waited until two months before the election to take a position on the war. Like I said in my book, while George Bush spent a year honing his attack to a razor's edge, Kerry spent a year coming up with one.
The Six for '06 puts national security where it belongs: First. During '04 Bill Clinton advised Kerry to focus on the party's "strengths" on domestic issues. Knowing full well, as anything but a dumb politician, that nothing matters until you are out front on national security. Wiley Old Bill helped set Kerry up, I think, because he drools at the chance for all that Washington nightlife all over again, likker and wimmin, and this time Hillary too busy to care. YEEHAW!
The Republican-"Centrist" Fear Machine lost no time tarring Lamont's democratic victory as a danger to the nation, with a good old fashioned August, pre-election terror alert thrown in. Dick Cheney, (Joe Lieberman's new best buddy! Take note, ad-makers!) said Lamont's win reflects a "pre-9/11 mindset." He said Al Qaeda "clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task." In other words, the same old shit.
George Bush is right. We DO live in a dangerous world, contrary to "those" naive enough to believe there aren't people out to hurt us. I don't know anyone who says that, but they must be out there, because George keeps saying they are.
What he doesn't say is the danger is a direct result of his policies. Before the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan was well on the way toward stabilization, with all of NATO onboard. Al Qaeda was on the run, even if Bush did let top leadership escape at Tora Bora. Then came the invasion that proved to Muslims that we were not out to avenge 9/11, but to steal oil, build permanent bases, and humiliate Muslim men.
If I read in the paper that foreigners were occupying my country, and killing and raping American women, I guarantee you I'd be planting IEDs in the middle of the night too.
The blunder of Iraq is on the magnitude, militarily, of Hitler opening the second front in the East against the Russians. We'd all be speaking German right now if Hitler had contented himself with half the world instead of all of it at once [Ed. note: In the 1700s, the United States voted English the nation language over German by just one vote].
Even if you agree with the disgusting, un-American proposition of unprovoked, "pre-emptive" war, just as Hitler's war was lost the minute he took on the Russian winter, our war on terror is lost as long as we stay in Iraq, which prevents redeploying to the Afghan-Paki border to hunt down the people who, um, actually attacked us.
Democrats give aid and comfort to the enemy? Uh, Dick? Joe? George? Betraying (not "outing", this is not about gender) Intelligence Officer Valerie Plame and her covert networks tracking WMD is what gave aid and comfort to the enemy, as did losing 300 tons of HMX explosives in Iraq (remember that one?) As did fighting against the establishment of a 9/11 Commission, as does fighting its recommendations now.
The Bushies do everything they can to keep us safe, except for one thing: the work. (SEE THE LOPEZ 12 STEPS FOR WINNING THE WAR ON TERROR.)
There will always be conventional war. It will start and it will stop. What George Bush's Amazing Invisible Enemy can do to my Constitution is my main concern.
Once you give up a right, you never get it back, except by force. I'm still hoping this country can avoid that kind of trouble. The best start is for us to agree that if there is another wave of terror attacks, it will be George Bush's fault. No one opened up that second front but him. He did it against the advice of absolutely everyone, including his own father and James Baker III. SIGN THE THE IMPEACH BUSH IN THE EVENT OF ANOTHER ATTACK PETITION
And now, here is my original New Contract for America.
Compare it to the Six for '06 Agenda. The key is to get away from the endless litany of politicians promising everyone everything welfare workfare car-care affordable housing ad naseum that is the usual Democratic spiel. Folks can't remember all that.
And accomplishing even a few of the Six for '06 would put the country way ahead of where it is now.
Ralph's New Contract for America (abridged, full post from last year here)
-Distinguish Iraq from Real War on Terror - We are properly at war in Afghanistan and in the mountainous border regions of Pakistan, and Iraq is exactly the quagmire bin Laden wanted. It draws resources away from the hunt for Al Qaeda and from the critical stablization of Afghanistan. Redeploy to Afghanistan and the Paki border. Then we mop up, make peace with the Muslim world (an apology for the Shah of Iran might go over well,) and put the genie back in the bottle. Get back to the good old days when armies fought each other and left civilians mostly out of it. Hell, some guys just LIKE to fight.
-Save American Retirement Security - Time Magazine says more and more people who worked 20 or 30 years for the same company are losing their pensions. Recently-passed laws allow corporations to renege on their pension promises.
-Restore college opportunity, by enabling students to go to any college they an get into on a need-blind basis. Yes, I'll take credit for this idea, which I've been pushing since my first days as a candidate in the early 90s.
-Environment - A "Marshall Plan" within the first 100 days of a non-Republican majority to start down the path of clean, sustainable energy independence.
-Be the Pro-Constitution Party. Again, if Bush can't give us safety without shredding the Constitution, we'll find someone who can.
-Worker training and re-training to smooth job transitions after layoffs. We are the only Western industrialized nation without it. Why?
-Don't Get Bogged Down on Health Insurance. Sure, progressives are for it, and the Bush Faction is against it, but the details should be kept to, if you are working full-time, you get health insurance, and you start paying for it by recovering the $10-$20 billion wasted on Medicare and Medicaid by over-billing. Then you start rewarding doctors for preventing as well as curing. You'll see a lot of docs getting their patients into olive oil and alfalfa sprouts.
-IMPORTANT: All of the Above Means NOTHING without a paper voting trail in every American precinct. - a no brainer.
Ralph Lopez is the author of numerous books including his latest, "The Elephant in the Room." His blog is http://ralphlopezworld.com/.

A Sore Loserman again ...

This artwork was posted on Daily Kos tonight and I thought it would be nice to steal. :-)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman is going down to defeat tonight and is refusing to quit. Instead, he will run as an independent.
Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with an independent run by Lieberman or anyone else. I like indies, have worked for them and supported them. I'm one myself.
I watched his speech on C-Span and the guy is a Sore Loserman again, like he was in 2000, after the debacle in Florida. Like he was in 2004, when he claimed a third place finish in the New Hampshire primary even though he came in fifth.
Sore Loserman is the epitome of what is wrong with everything going on in our political process. Thankfully, there was a female heckler in the audience at least trying to taunt him on the war stuff. The stones on this man are too much. Does he have no shame?
And what about Lamont’s campaign? Didn’t they learn anything about momentum? He should have pulled a Clinton - and gotten right on TV and claimed victory and let Sore Loserman stew. Lamont needed to be on at 11:01 … not Sore Loserman. It is important to get the live shot right at 11 p.m. which is exactly what Sore Loserman got from Connecticut television.
Although, Lamont's speech was good and he had the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Rep. Maxine Waters there, which should shore up some of the urban vote for the final election.
Now is the time to see what the establishment Democrats do. It's pony up time. Now is the time for all the elected Democrats of national stature to fly to Hartford and stand all together beside Ned Lamont. Let's see if they have the stones to do what is right ... or will they drive us all back to Ralph Nader again?
Rep. Cynthia McKinney, one of the only pols in Washington to challenge the "official" 9/11 story, also lost her primary, 58-41. In her case, it is sad to see her lose.
What an exciting night.

Lamont leads at 94 percent ...
Ned Lamont is safely not declaring a win yet. He is 9,100 votes up with 94 percent in.

Lieberman sinking fast ...
All eyes are on the Connecticut Democratic primary as Sen. Joe Lieberman, the party's 2000 vice presidential nominee, is going down to defeat.
Both the Drudge Report and Daily Kos are reporting challenger business Ned Lamont getting 52 percent and a difference of about 6,000 votes, with 74 percent of the votes tallied. This means, it is pretty close to over at this point. Traditionally, Democratic primaries get around 25 percent turnout. Today, as many as 50 percent of registered Democrats are expected to vote.
Lieberman has been threatening to run as an independent and has told aides and media reps that he will not accept defeat.

Terrence Trent D'Arby
Recently, I've been writing about my inexpensive little mp3 player and how cool it is but I haven't really talked about the songs I have loaded into it. One of the songs, which I still love to this day, is a cheesy little rock number called "She Kissed Me" by Terrence Trent D'Arby. It is a quick funky thing with some good guitar work - right out of 1994 or something - and it just rocks. It's totally different than anything else he has done.
Well, late last night while doing some work and listening to tunes, I started thinking, 'I wonder what the heck ever became of that guy?' I mean, he was considered for the position of lead singer in INXS after Michael Hutchence died but, after that, no much has been seen or heard from him.
So, I did a Google and what did I find? Terrence is no long Terrence but he is "Sananda" ... !!! : ["Sananda Maitreya"]. The mp3s aren't free, so I don't know what he sounds like. I guess I could buy a few ... but his "change" is so wigging me out - he looks like a new age Ala Baba camped out in Tuscany - that I don't know if I really want to give the guy my credit card number just to check out his new stuff. And why would anyone ever change their name like that?
In future weeks, when I get a breath, I will write some reviews of some of the stuff I have been listening to, including the brilliant Richard Butler solo record.

Supernova, Week 4 or whatever
Well, I'm still digging this show but I really have to wonder about this band.
For weeks, they have been clamoring for singers to "bring the RAWK!" which basically gives the viewer the impression that Supernova is just going to be another damn sludge rock band. But then, they show off some demos they are working on, and they prove that they are just going to be another sludge rock band, only a little more like than the Stones than Metallica. Now that we have established that, OK. No problem.
But why go for the same old thing? Why pigeonhole yourself? Why not try something different? Last night, every negative comment they made about the singers could be interpreted as an establishment of fact that they are just going to be some sucky, all-star rock band, like Velvet Revolver, with CDs in the cutout bin three months after release.
Example: Zayra, probably the coolest woman in that group, totally diverse, interesting in her approach ... but slammed for it. Last night, she was dressed in this superhot, clingy space suit thing which looked like it came off the set of "Star Wars." Dave Navarro's comments last night that she should quit and go out on her own now were exactly right: She is too good for those clowns! And then, they rave about the bag lady's acoustic version of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time"? What gives?

Headline of the month?
Easily this profile of Mass. Lt. Gov. Kerry Murphy Healey: ["Muffy the Democrat Slayer"]. I must say that from watching Mass. TV, Healey's political TV spots are really pretty good. Gabrieli's are too ... the difference is really results and what you want to do.
But Healey's really strike a chord - one, addressing the high cost of living in the state, and the other one I've seen, talking about her working class background. She married well ... so what. Should that be held against her? I think she should be accepted or rejected based on the things she wants to do - not her husband's wealth or her mansion in Pride's Crossing.

Catching up on some headlines
For whatever reason, IE has now decided to list all the Web sites in my favorites file in alphabetical order instead of the time I save it to the file or where I put them manually. I don't know why it is doing this, but it is. So, for recent posts, I haven't posted all the stories available, because they've been put at different areas of the file. So, while some of these links may be a tad old, they are still worthy of a looksie.

DNC to decide New Hampshire's fate: The Democratic National Committee will be meeting today to discuss the final 2008 primary and caucus calendar. I don't like the looks of what they are trying to do: ["The DNC Calendar Choices Narrow"]. Their obsession with taking away "New Hampshire clout" is getting ridiculous, especially in light of how Terry McAwful front-loaded the primaries in the past. This process of front-loading - not the NH Primary - is the real reason for the "lack of diversity" in the nomination process, as well as the weak nominee syndrome. Looking back at the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry wasn't such a weak nominee, he just took bad advice and didn't fight hard enough for it. Kerry missed winning by very little in the scheme of things. Some would also contend that Al Gore wasn't such a weak nominee. The 2000 election was virtual tie. And if anything, it was lack of progressivity, not diversity, that doomed his candidacy, especially after picking Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate which allowed Ralph Nader a huge opening to punch the guy throughout the late months of the campaign. In addition, Gore took bad advice and didn't sit down with Nader after he asked for a meeting back in 1999, setting the stage for the 2000 race. Had Gore answered the phone, things might have been a lot different, wouldn't they?

In other 2008 news: It looks like Rudy is in: ["Rudy for president?"]. And Sen. MBNA [aka Biden] comes to our town: ["Talk about retail politics"]. Check out that Preston Gateaway photo too. Just a tad too close for most comfort levels. He looks like he is putting the moves on that girl!

One of my heros, Bill Hillsman: ["Backstory: Reducing the campaign snooze factor"]. Someday, when I get to be independently secure, in the financial sense, I'm going to work for this guy. Or, I'm going to create my own ad ompany to so I can do similar things. Back during the Nader campaign, one of Hillsman's underlings commended the free Nader radio spots I put together for some of the states which could afford to buy independent expenditure ads. The ad descriptions are here: ["Anti-Nader study falls flat"]. Someone needs to put the fun back in politics and this guy is doing it.

More brilliance from Buchanan: ["No, this is not 'our war'"]. And more stupidity by this administration: ["Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say"].

Lieberman-Lamont race: David Sirota has a great piece on Common Dreams with an overview of the CT Senate race, with the beltway insider/cocktail crowd attempting to save it for Lieberman: ["Pull Up A Chair-- This Is the Funniest Show In Politics"]. It is clear that there should be term limits for syndicated columnists and pundits on the talking head shows ... [Hmm, I feel a column coming on ...].
Earlier this week, there was some good stuff posted on Daily Kos by posters following this race. The bloggers are giggling about how they are affecting someone who should really be unelected. The dynamic is interesting, to say the least. The key will be this: Will the bloggers become the beltway insiders at some point or will they truly make the changes needed to run a better nation, via their posts? In other words, are they a part of the solution, or part of the future problems. Before closing out this issue, here is the story that started the onslaught: ["Lamont Has Narrow Lead"].
Also, here is another article about the issue of bloggers which I meant to post a couple of weeks ago: ["Bloggers battle old-school media for political clout"].

This is a sad story and also brings up the issue of state/court control over parental control: ["Judge Orders Teen to Cancer Treatment"]. Where does this judge or this state, get off telling parents that they have to do something they don't think will work? Courts have decided that on religious grounds, parents can't be forced to treat their children. Why can't they have the right to treat sickness with alternative medicine if they so choose?

Lieberman may run as an indie
In previous posts, I've touched upon some of things going on in the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut where Joe Lieberman - a former presidential candidate and Gore's VP in 2000 - appears to be in trouble. The latest is that Lieberman is leaning towards running as an indie if he loses the primary: ["Senator Keeps Options Open"].

"I am not going to close out any options ..."

Boy, talk about Sore Loserman!

Unity08: I haven't really been tracking this Unity08 movement thing but I'm intrigued by it. The "people" are clearly irked by both parties. But, I'm worried about some of the rumors I have heard about the people involved in the movement not wanting to take specific positions on trade, immigration, and other important issues. What is the point of that? But then, there is this from Novak, of all people: ["Bloomberg for President?"]. Bloomberg? Bloomberg?!? Well, he is a liberal Republican and he was a Democrat before and he is worth billions and he seems to be an OK mayor so ...

Newt: Another campaign to be intrigued about is Gingrich's, who is leaning towards a run: ["Gingrich May Run in 2008 If No Front-Runner Emerges"]. In other words, he is running. There is no clear frontrunner except McCain and he doesn't count because he ran before and he has about as much chance of being the nominee as Pat Buchanan did in 1996. Gingrich is trying to reinvent himself - by not being as vicious and criticizing his own party - but the big question mark is what the moralists within the party will think about a guy who dumped his first wife on her death bed and dumped his second wife for a twinkie intern. Lesser sexual activity by President Clinton killed Al Gore's campaign. What will it do to Gingrich in a nasty, bloody, 10-way GOP primary?

Incivility

Maybe it is my old age or my previous life as the mouth that would occasionally roar. But, if there is one thing I have learned in later life it is that we, as a people, have to try and be civil to each other. It is OK to be critical; but let's try and keep it civil. It isn't easy but it's not hard either.
I'm not a big fan of super conservative or super liberal book authors. There are some I really respect, like Pat Buchanan and Jim Hightower, for example. But I don't go for any of the "haters" like Al Franken and Michael Savage ... "liberalism is a mental disorder ..." oh yeah. And, I don't go for that lunatic Ann Coulter. For someone who professes Christianity so strongly, she is a pretty poor example. Check out this, from her new book, "Godless," talking about the 9-11 Widows:

"These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the terrorist attack only happened to them. They believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing Bush was part of the closure process. ... These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband's death so much."

Gasp. Wow. Can you believe that? These women lose their husbands and they have to get this from some blonde ding-a-ling? What has she lost? She doesn't have kids who will grow up without their fathers. My Lord!

Mihos picks Sullivan
So much for respecting Christy Mihos' independent run for governor of Massachusetts. Today, Mihos picked John Sullivan, Winchester Town Moderator, as his running mate: ["Mihos names Sullivan as running mate"].
Needless to say, I'm shocked. Most people in Winchester respect Sullivan and never liked that I was often critical in editorials for The Winchester Star of the way in ran Town Meeting - speaking from the moderator's podium about policy and editorializing on how the meeting should vote which would often sway the vote; closing debate down when he felt no one else should speak instead of when the meeting wanted to adjourn a question ["I'm sensing it is time to move the question ..."]; his alleged back room deals and under-handed moves to keep TM members from their elected right to govern - like squashing a warrant article to kill the controversial Winning Farm elderly housing project and then later, helping to ram it through to passage, despite deep opposition for the project. Nevermind the really bad NESWIC contract he was involved in negotiating which almost brought the town to bankruptcy. They have only just begun to get out underneath that mess and are now, finally, paying much less than they were before. This guy is the last person you want a heartbeat away from the governship, believe me.
I should try and dig up some of my columns and editorials about the guy - some pretty amusing and hard-hitting writing, if I say so myself.
Sure, Sullivan was funny with a quip; but deep-down, I sensed something pretty bad about the guy and I just couldn't prove it beyond off-the-record comments, semantics, and insinuations. Well, now he is in the big time. And maybe someone else will find the skeletons. A really bad move by Mihos.

R.I.P. Billy Preston
["'Fifth Beatle' Billy Preston Dies"]. Boy, are we getting old? I find it funny that he was considered the fifth Beatle when he could have been considered the seventh Stone too - after Ian "Stu" Stewart, who was the sixth Stone. Only a few of the articles on Google News mention that he also played on "Black & Blue," one of the better Stones albums.

Weld out: Big Red drops out of the New York gubernatorial race: ["Weld Drops Out of N.Y. Governor's Race"]. Damn, does he look tired and aged by drink. As well, Spitzer is going to win anyway so ...