Well well, another flip from Clark...

Candidate Clark: "I was always against this war, there was no reason for it"
Analyst Clark to House Armed Services committie in '02: "Yup, saddam has chemical weapons, and use of pre-emptive force may be necessary"

Of course, now the spinners out there are saying "he meant only w/ UN approval", but that just makes the statement even worse: if there's a threat, or the weapons were actually there, then who cares what the UN thinks? Why delegate this kind of decision to a foreign body?


Meanwhile, yet more displays of conservative anger w/ Bush. Yes, keep it up, the more the better.

And then there were eight...

Carol Moseley Braun plans to end her White House bid Thursday, leaving an all-male field for the presidency and giving her support to Democratic front-runner Howard Dean. Braun was to officially endorse the former Vermont governor Thursday afternoon during an appearance at Carroll High School in Carroll, Iowa, said Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi.

She really had no chance in hell anyway.

The nonsense deepens...Check out what Bush is planning on doing to shore up "conservative" support:

Administration officials say they are planning an extensive election-year initiative to promote marriage...For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."

Lemme get this straight. As a sop to alleged conservatives, his plan is to insert DC into our lives even more by creating a government program to "train" people in marriage, something that human beings have been figuring out on their own throughout time up until now & is in terms of granting such authority to the federal government, let alone being relevant to running a country, nill.

So, this is the new "conservatism" in america. Not even the usual bit of lip service to limits on government power or a starting point of not assuming unending wisdom of buerecrats, just the same old moralizing that was worthless to begin with, connected with the kind of technocratic, cynical social engineering that if it came from a democrat would be attacked with everything including the kitchen sink. Time was, if your marriage failed it was your fault, now it's being considered the fault of Big Brother for not having force-fed you in the beginning what experience and learning from one's mistakes provided in the long run.

Is this what we've really had to come to? We're so fragile & spoiled as a people that we think we have the power to legislate away human flaws? We screw up at the slightest of things & it's off to cry to the government? "My spouse is banging our neighbor!" "my cousin is on the pipe!" "I'm getting too much junk email!" "I did nothing but eat at McDonald's & watch porn for a month, and now I'm fat!" "people are looking at me funny!"

That isn't America. I know it's not.

That is the collective whine of a land of grown-ass babies, oversensative basket cases that shrivle up & blow in the wind at the slightest sign of difficulty.

Well goddammit, that is LIFE. No one ever said life would be easy. We just live our lives & make our decisions the best we can muster, and you know what? Sometimes we lose. Sometimes, we gather up our resources, play our hand, and lose. That does not mean we don't try, it doesn't mean that our lives are permanently ruined. You get back up, you get back into the game, and eventually we have our moments. You win some, you lose some, if everyone won all the time what would be the point?

Y'know, I've had my low times. There's been times where I've thought the worst. I've even spent nights where I didn't know if I'd have a roof over my head the next day. Did I blame society for not carrying my load for me?

No.

I blamed myself. And whenever I've been down, I've gotten back up. Do you know why I got back up?

Because I have too much damned respect for myself to let each downfall be permanent. I know that if I'm the one that fell, then I'm the one that will rise. No one is taking that from me as long as I draw breath. I am not some special person endowed with some sort of otherworldly power, I am flesh and blood like the rest of us. Like you. We must not fall into this hole and stay there. We WILL not.

If I criticize you, it is only because I love you and want you to succeed. I want US to succeed. I want an america that can look the rest of the world in the eyes with pride, and say that we stand for something, and I will do all that is in my power to make that a reality.

Thank you for your time, whoever is out there reading this.
-B

The primary process: more complex than portrayed in the media. More I know about this crap, the more I think primaries for presidential elections are worthless.

Some choice bits...

...Estimates will, of course, be made by media outlets as well as by the campaigns of the presidential contenders themselves as to how many of Iowa's 56 National Convention delegates each presidential contender is likely to be ultimately be receiving as a result of the Iowa caucuses but, of course, since no National Convention delegates are actually being chosen by these caucuses, all such estimates will almost certainly, come the State Convention in June, be wrong!!

Hmm? No one's being picked? Until June?

At each caucus, each presidential contender who fails to get at least 15 percent support among the participants in the initial balloting after a period of discussion will be considered "non-viable" and all supporters of such "non-viable" presidential contenders will then be required to join in the support of presidential contenders who have remained "viable".

Waitaminute here...supporters in a group smaller than 15 percent are actually FORCED to endorse someone else? Suppose that's who they genuinely want & they think the rest of the candidates can go to hell? They have to just swallow it?

Someone explain how this is right. It may be beneficial to the party, but it's still overriding the will of these people. No wonder the types of people we tend to elect are such controlling ninnys, look how they pick their candidates...

[Props to Lincoln Plawg for the link]

Anyone remember Cynthia McKinney? If not, sadly, us in Georgia will not be able to share in your blissful ignorance...*sigh*

Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., an early opponent of the Iraq war, will run again, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday. The newspaper quoted her father, former State Rep. Billy McKinney, as saying she wants a rematch against Rep. Denise Majette, D-Ga., who defeated her in 2002.

I wonder what kooky theory she's going to throw out this time. Dubya caused the eartquake in Iran? Dick Cheney eats children? Her performance as representative was so awful that her district hired their own "lobbyist" for their views? Oh wait, that last one was true...

Though her father does have an interesting comment right off the bat:

Billy McKinney said his daughter had turned down an invitation to run for president by the Green Party, calling it "just too way out for Cynthia."

The Green Party, too way out for Cynthia?? At least they don't have the word "SOCIALIST" actually in their party name, unlike the group she was affiliated with while in congress. I guess they are too far for her...too far to the right, lol.

This is big: Chemical weapons, finally?

LOL...Ten reasons why beer is better than religion