Follow The 2008 Presidential Primaries Here

Follow The 2008 Presidential Primaries

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See How The Media Plays a Bigger Role In Choosing Presidents Than Voters Do
(Most recent Posts at bottom. I will try to update as often as I can, but If I fall behind, please refer to the regular blog archive in the sidebar).

January 2008

The Aftermath of Iowa

Candidates From Both Parties Excluded from New Hampshire Debate

America Showed Its Best Face In Iowa

Notice The Media Blackout of John Edwards? I Noticed It too.

Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte Stand With John Edwards

A Review of the Medias Coverage of the Iowa Caucus

Meditations on the 2008 Presidential Race - From Blogger Liberal Arts Dude

The Impact of Corporate Media

The Rise of Obama - Can He Win A General Election?

Obama Chats With Brian Williams

Hillary Wins New Hampshire

John Edwards Steps out of the Race

Senator Ted Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama

Obama Wins South Carolina

Caroline Kennedy Endorses Obama
John McCain Has More Wars In Store For You

February

Radio Discussion About The Republicans and the General Election (good program)

Ethel Kennedy & Susan Eisenhower Endorse Obama

Obama Pulls A Miracle on Super Tuesday

Barack Obama - Yes We Can

Obama's Super Tuesday Win - The Morning After

The Asian and Latino Vote

Clean Sweep For Obama - He Wins Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and the Virgin Islands

Hillary Clinton Getting Support From Ann Coulter

Obama Trounces Clinton in Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana, and the Virgin Islands

Obama Wins Maine

Obama Speaking at Jefferson- Jackson Dinner in Virginia

Clinton Camp in State of Panic

Obama Wins Potomac Primary

Julian Bond Sells His Soul, Supports Clinton and Her Dirty Politics

Worried About Super Delegates Hijacking Democracy?

Obama and Public Financing

Wisconsins Largest Newspaper Endorses Barack Obama

Nancy Pelosi Leaning Towards Obama

MSNBC moves the Goal Posts for Clinton, Attacks Obama

Clinton Advisor Wants Florida and Michigan Delegates Included, even though there was no campaigning in those States. Those States were officially off limits.

U.S. Standing In The World Continues to Suffer

New BBC Survey Finds the World View of the U.S. Is Still Poor.
This matches the trend of the past 5 or 6 years.
The Bush administration is suffering around the world AND at home.

But for the first time, I see signs that the American public is now growing tired of their Bad Guy image around the world. More Americans seem to be interested in changing the situation.

Georgia Man In Prison 21 Years After Wrongful Conviction

DNA evidence to free convicted rapist
Willie O. Williams spent 21 years in prison for crime he did not commit

By BILL TORPY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/22/07

Convicted rapist Willie O. Williams will be released from prison Tuesday after spending 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
"We are convinced today Mr. Williams was not responsible for this," Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard said at an afternoon press conference today.

Howard said has started an investigation to find who was the actual rapist in the April 1985 attack on a woman at an apartment complex parking lot in Sandy Springs.
Williams was exonerated based on DNA evidence that was tested through a request of the Georgia Innocence Project, who had received a letter from Williams in July 2005 saying he had been wrongly imprisoned for two decades.

Williams was convicted based on eye-witness testimony by the victim.
Howard said Williams will be brought back to Fulton Tuesday from the D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston. He will be released on bond through the Fulton County Jail before the charges are officially cleared in about two weeks.

This is why I am not enthusiastic about the Death Penalty. What if this were a murder case and the defendant was on Death Row? Could you imagine that kind of mental anguish?

But now that he's out... how do you compensate someone who lost 21 years? Most States don't have an adequate system for repaying those who have been wrongfully convicted. Some are reluctant to even give an apology.

But what is a fair price for 21 years of someones life?

Obama Already Under Attack

Barak Obama is already under attack for his racial/cultural background.

Clinton has been mentioned as the culprit for this attack, but it's unclear if this was initiated by Democrats or Republicans. Regardless.... this is probably only the beginning.
I have been saying that this would happen.

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The Moderate Voice Is Also Covering This Story

Smoking Now Banned In Your Car?

Cities (and some States) across the country have recently begun banning smoking in vehicles. The latest city to pass such a law is Bangor Maine. Hear audio report.
In most cases these laws are meant for vehicles with children inside. However, I am always concerned about basic rights being eroded incrementally. Today, it might be cars with children inside. Tomorrow lawmakers may decide to extend that ban to all vehicles. It's an easy step, once there is a law already in place governing smoking in your car.

I am a non-smoker & I don't like the idea of people being exposed to second-hand smoke. However, I don't believe this should be legislated. Banning smoking in privately owned personal vehicles leads us down a slippery slope. This, in my opinion, is unconstitutional and I am sure it will be challenged at some point. I hope it will be overturned.

If the government can ban smoking in personal vehicles, what is to stop the government from banning smoking in your home? From there, the door would be opened for the government to dictate all sorts of other things that go on in the privacy of your home, private vehicle, and in your personal life in general. This is just another way for "Big Brother" to enter our lives.

I can remember riding in the family car when I was a young man, dealing with my step-mothers cigarette smoke. And when I say riding, I DO mean riding. We went on road trips several times a year. My father was a serious highway traveller. But I survived all that smoke.

Parents just have to be more responsible. If parents don't have enough sense to know not to smoke in a confined area with children or they don't roll down a window, then perhaps they should not have children.

I think governments, whether local, State, or Federal, should be worried about much more important matters. Do we want Police officers tied up with this kind of law enforcement, when Police are needed to deal with more urgent calls?

This seems to be a case of government stepping over the line.

Suspect In Litvinenko Case Has Been Identified

British Police have identified a suspect in the Litvinenko assassination.

It appears that the thugs who run Russia may have played some role in the death of Mr. Litvinenko. How will Britian and the U.S. react?

The U.S., Britian, Canada, and any other targeted nations, should at the very least eliminate Russian spies from their territory. That includes spies acting as diplomats.
During the height of the "Cold War" (which probably never really ended, thanks to U.S. negligence) the purging of diplomats and spies every year or so was not uncommon. It looks like the World is regressing back to Cold War practices.

The U.S. and Britain are aware of the intense spy activity by Russia, but have not done much (publicly) to deal with the problem. KICK THEM OUT!!! Eliminate (or at least reduce) the threat. The CIA, with its lack of human resources, is in such dismal shape that the U.S. probably cannot counter very well.

These people should not be allowed into Britain or the U.S., if they are involved in these kinds of activities. And after they are kicked out, there should be a limit on how many Russian "diplomats" are allowed to operate in Britain, the U.S. and other countries.

More information about the group of thugs who now run Russia. They have created what is basically a dictatorship in Russia controlled by former KGB or current Security Force officers (FSB).

Retired Generals Come Out Against Iraq Plan

Listen to NPR report

A Big Political Nightmare Comes True- Hillary Clinton To Run For President

The nightmare is finally a reality. Hillary Clinton announces that she is running for President.

An even worse nightmare would be Clinton surviving the Primaries and winning the Democratic nomination. I'm sure the Republican Party is thrilled about this announcement. They are keeping their fingers crossed for a Clinton win. Hillary Clinton getting the nomination would mean an easy campaign for McCain or any other top Republican.

I'm not too concerned. The Democratic field is coming together as well as could be expected and I believe that the other candidates on the Democratic side will be able to handle Hillary without too much difficulty. But I am concerned about lopsided media coverage that may favor her because she is the novelty candidate and the "frontrunner" that the media created.

The whole field is weak on both sides..... but there are enough alternatives to Hillary Clinton to allow voters ample opportunity to avoid this catastrophe. I just hope the voters don't fall for the media created superstar. Hopefully voters will look at the issues, her record, and her electability.

Hillary will have a hard time hiding from her record as Senator of New York, and as First Lady. I hope the gloves come off. Her cozy relationship with the Republican Party and her pro-war tendencies MUST also be highlighted as many times as possible by her opponents. I know that there will be reluctance to take the gloves off because she is "Mrs. Clinton"..... But too hell with all that! If she can't stand the heat, she has no business in the Kitchen.

She has also gone back and forth on her stance on issues so many times that I don't believe that even she can keep up with her own positions anymore. She doesn't seem to be able to come up with many of her own ideas or take a solid position on important issues (she rides the bandwagon of others), and when she does take a position on something, she often can't stick with it. It's one thing to be open minded, flexible and to recognize problems and be willing to adjust based on changing realities... that's just being smart. However, this is not what Hillary seems to do. Instead, she seems to change with the wind.

I hope Edwards and Kusinich never let up on Hillary. Hopefully she will drop out halfway through the Primaries.

And I wish people would stop talking about how historic this is and how this is "a first". Nonsense! Hillary isn't the first woman to run for high office. Geraldine Ferraro was actually a part of a nominated ticket 23 years ago (although as VP). Theoretically, Ferraro got closer (by actually being nominated as VP) than Hillary will likely get. And has the world forgotten about Margaret Chase Smith (64), Shirley Chisholm (72), Ellen McCormack (76), and Carol Mosely Braun (04)? These were all women who ran for President and blazed that trail a long time ago. Hillary Clinton is not even the only First Lady to run for President.

And there have been several Black Presidential candidates. Stop with the excessive glorification of Obama as being some sort of trailblazer. Jesse L. Jackson already knocked down that door.... Not to mention the other African Americans who have also run for President. Furthermore, there have been a few Black Americans elected to the Senate before Obama.

I also don't like the idea of Hillary running because I don't want to see another Clinton in office (although the chances are remote). There should be a law preventing this from happening in the first place. A Hillary win would mark 28 consecutive years of Bush/Clinton administrations (and would = 32 years by the end of her first term). Of course i'm counting George H.W's time as VP. That's a dictatorship, not a Democracy (not as if The USA is a Democracy anyway..but you get my point). I didn't like Slick Willy's policies (foreign policy in particular) and I have no reason to believe that Hillary's foreign policy would be any better. Having a Clinton in office during these challenging times is just about as bad as having a Republican in office. To be honest, I would probably rather have a thoughtful, tactful, cautious (tread lightly) Moderate Republican like Chuck Hagel in office, than a pro-war interventionist Democrat like Hillary Clinton. But in a country like this, there are really no good choices.... It's always a choice between the lesser of two evils. The problem is... all of them are imperialists & pro-war at heart...regardless of Party. That is the foundation of U.S. Foreign policy. Foreign Policy is one of the few areas where both Parties are basically the same. This is why there needs to be a fundamental change in how the U.S. deals with the World. This is one of the few good things that may come out of the Iraq fiasco... it may cause a rethinking of U.S. foreign policy.

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The African American Political Pundit Also Posted About the Clinton Announcement. See his comments here.

List of Candidates

Previous Blog Entry

A magical negro or a spook?

I just finished reading a great post by Jack and Jill Politics about Barack Obama -- America's Magical Negro?.

For me Jill Tubman at Jack and Jill Politics hit the issue of Barack Obama right on the head. I've been wondering for some time why I'm not feeling Barack Obama presidency ambitions. There are many reasons. But one of the most important reasons that came to mind after reading her post was, I candidly don't want to see a black man go into the white house to clean up the white man's mess.

For hundreds of years black men have been cleaning up the mess of white men. Is it not time for blacks to say, hey, you made this mess you clean it up? Bush is currently screwing the nation.

As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Bush has "dug a hole so deep he can't even see the light on this" and calling the buildup "a stark blunder."

Can and should Barack Obama be the clean up man for Bush and his administration? Or, if he is elected, would Obama become America's scapegoat for the failures of Bush, Cheney, Condi and the other neo cons ?

You know how it is in scary movies; the black man always gets killed first. Or is Barack Obama a spook that sat by the door?

Cross posted on African American Opinion.com and Mirror on America