Day: May 20, 2008

If It Is Tuesday, There Has Got To Be A Primary Somwhere

And the somewhere is Kentucky and Oregon, which go to the primary polls today–Clinton is favored in Kentucky by double digits and Obama is favored in Oregen by 5-10 points.

To my thinking there is something wrong with the presumptive nominee that is still losing by double digits. I guess that is really helping Obama since it would be a disaster if he lost to a “dead corpse” candidate, that is if Clinton was already out of the running.

Now I have another question. How did Clinton become the candidate of the blue collar voter? When did this happen? Is it politically motivated? Of course it is! She had to find her base, other than white women over 40, so she began pandering to the blue collar voter. But their jobs are disappearing because of another Clinton and the DLC. Remember NAFTA!

Where is the logic? Never mind that was a damn silly question! American voters have never employed logic in their choices for president, if they had then half of those elected would have NEVER been president.

The polls are open! Now is the time to vote issues not damn silly personalities. Vote for the country and its people.

Is Venezuela Important Enough To Provoke?

A U.S. Navy jet violated Venezuelan airspace around two small Caribbean islands over the weekend in what the South American country said was a provocation coordinated with neighbouring Colombia.

Venezuela and the United States bicker over everything from energy policy to arms sales. The incursion comes amid heightened tensions over accusations that Venezuela helped a guerrilla army fighting the government in U.S. ally Colombia.

The Pentagon said a Navy aircraft on a counternarcotics mission had navigation problems that led it to stray into Venezuelan airspace on Saturday.

The U.S. ambassador in Caracas was being summoned to explain the incident, Venezuela’s foreign minister said.

“In the event a U.S. aircraft unintentionally enters into the sovereign airspace of another nation, its crew is required to take swift action to exit the airspace and report the incident to their immediate chain of command, which this aircrew apparently did,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

Really?

It sounds like a provocation in the making…..get Chavez to over-react and then you have a reason for any actions that may be deemed necessary…..it worked in Vietnam…it worked in Iraq……could it work now?

FLDS UpDate

Texas policy holds that when children are taken from their parents for investigation of possible abuse, geographic distances should be kept to a minimum to allow supervised visitation. That has not, by a wide Texas mile, been the experience of Nora Jeffs, who was among the dozens of women attending court hearings here on Monday. Since her eight children were taken in the raid at a polygamist compound last month, Ms. Jeffs has been transformed into more or less an itinerant traveler, trying to visit her children, who are 18 months old to 14 years old, according to a state case worke

The children themselves, who are not allowed to travel while in state custody, are being encouraged to use conference telephone calls to stay in touch and to send drawings and letters.The hearings, technically meant as a 60-day check-up of the state’s plan in handling the children and families of the raid, have exposed the clanking machinery of the Texas child welfare apparatus, which has strained at the seams and spent millions of dollars to handle one of the biggest and most complex child welfare cases in the nation’s history.

State officials said the raid and the taking of all the children in the church’s compound, called Yearning for Zion, were necessary because the culture of the sect led to illegal under-age marriage for girls and acceptance of that practice by boys — a pattern that state officials have said endangers both sexes.

Once again, I state that I am NOT a follower of the FLDS, my problem is one of civil rights, if there was abuse then those abusing should be held accountable.  My problem is making children pay for the state’s dislike of a religious sect.  It happened to these people, it could happen to you.

How Clinton Lost The Black Vote

I have traveled around my area talking with people about the Dem contest that is drawing to an end and wanted to know why the Clintons have lost all support in the black community.  I had found a wealthy of people willing to talk about their disappointment in the Clintons and the flippant attitudes towards the black community and the constant use of the race card.

I was trying to put my findings down into a rational report and found this comment on the Huffington Post abd it summed up the points as well as anything I was writing.

First let me state I am not an African American–I am an American. I was not born in African; therefore, I prefer to be called Black. We do not call white people or any other race by country and then race. You have never heard anyone say European American or Japanese American.

Listed below are my biggest problems with Hillary.
* She brought up Rev. Wright while her husband is seen in a photo with Rev. Wright.
* She brought up Obama’s affiliation with William Ayres while her husband pardoned two members of the Weatherman group who said they were guilty.
* She talked about Obama’s affiliations but refuses to talk about her past communist affiliation.
* She claimed Obama is an elitist while she is a bigger elitist than him. Who is worth millions?
* She has used Rev. Wright, William Ayres, and Farrakhan as scare tactics for white people.
* She keeps changing the rules so she can win.
* When in the lead she said Florida and Michigan should not count.
* She continues to say she will win even though the odds are against her.
* The most infuriating remarks coming out of Hillary”s mouth is she is the stronger candidate. She states this as we owe her the presidency.

Need I say more about Hillary? If Hillary wins the nominee by some strange miracle, I will sit out the election.

Not all blacks whole to this list, but their objection is on that list.

American Axel UpDate #7

Hundreds of workers at all but one of the American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. plants embroiled in a 12-week strike against the auto supplier cast their votes on the tentative agreement between the UAW and the company.

More than 1,650 workers at five plants, including one shuttered factory in Buffalo, N.Y., voted on the deal Monday, leaving the company’s largest UAW local — about 2,000-strong Local 235 in Detroit — to cast votes Thursday.

Results of the vote are not expected until after members of Local 235 vote.

While they are voting on the same contract, workers in the plants that voted Monday face different fates.

Some face the closure of their plants and are considering retiring or hoping there will be room for them at another American Axle factory. Others would take cash payments but see their wages cut by about $10. Still others want to take a buyout and leave the company altogether.

“It is not a good agreement. But at this juncture, it’s the best we can do, and we feel like we owe it to our membership and to their families to have negotiated to a point where we cannot make any more improvement and let them decide,” Gettelfinger said.

Turnout was heavy Monday morning among members of UAW Local 262 who work at American Axle in Hamtramck, said Vickie Barrett-Clay, a member of the local’s executive board. “This is our livelihood,” Barrett-Clay said.

I fear with the economic forecast for the US not being so damn good that the workers will pass an agreement that is not to the liking.  Say what you want about the worker and their livelihood, but when a family needs basic necessities, a compromise will have to be found.

The system of labor v corporate was set into motion many years ago when the unions decided to focus on economic issues and did not think ahead to the future.

I wish them, the workers, all the luck and success.

Obama Adopted by Native Americans – The Caucus – Politics – New York Times Blog

Obama Adopted by Native Americans – The Caucus – Politics – New York Times Blog

This is a bigger deal than the politics of the season; it is a show of respect and leadership to be adopted. I pray that he talks this ceremony to heart. NAs need someone who will actually care about their plight in Washington, Obama has an opportunity here to do the right thing.