Happy Obama Day!!!

The last few months have been bipolar in their ups and downs. I haven't really had the wherewithall to follow it on the blog and for that I apologize. I had to check in today as the Bush countdown finally finished. Can't say how gratifying that is, probably as exciting as seeing Dick Cheney off to prison for that life sentence he's more than earned. Good job, Dick! If I had a few shoes I would send them off in a care package.

I'm sitting in my living room watching the Bushes head out to points West with the dog. He's completely disinterested, but I had to rewind the tape and watch it unfold to finally believe it was real. The last eight years of tyranny are finally over.

I have high hopes for the Obama adminstration and quite a few reservations. I'm hoping to revive the blog now that my nerves are able to rest. We'll see. Happy new year, America!

Blogola

Win Points for McCain! - washingtonpost.com

Spread John McCain's official talking points around the Web -- and you could win valuable prizes!

That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort, one that combines the features of "AstroTurf" campaigning with the sort of customer-loyalty programs offered by airlines, hotel chains, restaurants and the occasional daily newspaper.

On McCain's Web site, visitors are invited to "Spread the Word" about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor's screen name. The site offers sample comments ("John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .") and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into "conservative," "liberal," "moderate" and "other" categories. Just cut and paste.


.....[snip]

People who sign up for McCain's program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain's webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk Express, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.
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"Anytime you're getting supporters activated into online communities or taking other actions to spread the word, that's a win," Rogers says.

"Reward points" or other incentives for political work aren't a new concept. The Republican National Committee started a rewards program for volunteer fundraisers several years ago. More recently, Barack Obama's campaign has given small donors and volunteers the chance to win a lunch or dinner with the candidate. (Obama's campaign doesn't have a comment program similar to McCain's.)

More chillingly, dissidents alleged earlier this year that the Chinese government has paid Chinese citizens token sums for each favorable comment about government policies they post in chat rooms and on blogs.

Offering incentives to spread presidential campaign rhetoric online makes sense, says Michael Cornfield, an adjunct professor at George Washington University and an expert in political management online. "Now that social media have expanded citizen comment opportunities far beyond the old letter to the editor and talk show call-in, campaigns should take advantage," he says.

But Cornfield (an executive with a company that markets political-organizing software) says McCain's program has a couple of bugs.

The first, he says, is the lack of disclosure instructions to participants. To rise above AstroTurf -- a practice considered ethically dubious by many political operatives -- Cornfield says participants should use their real names and identify themselves as part of a campaign participation program (as in, "I'm Mike Cornfield, and I'm part of the McCain Action Team").

Aside from the sheer asshatery of paying people to troll the web for your cause -- does this inspire anyone? Really? Who are these clowns who still think voting for McCain makes sense under any conditions? SMH.

CA - DOMA PROP. 22 REJECTED!!!

A great day for Californians! The CA Supremes ruled Prop 22 the controversial Defense of Marriage aka homophobe's marriage law unconstitutional.

This is a tremendous advancement and coming right before the 41st anniversary of Loving v. Virginia is a beautiful thing.

Now, this will likely be appealed (and that would take it to Federal Court), so there will many ups and downs on this to come. Still, a victory dance is in order.

And Brad?

"Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who
wants to be married is legally able".

Clocks ticking...

Stockholm Syndrome aka HRC's Race for the White House '08

I'm glad that some progressive outlets are finally just doing the basic math and concluding what most people with a calculator have. Hillary can't win. Even her own advisers think she's got a 10% chance of getting the nomination.

Politico put up a story today saying this, and now it's a matter of time before everyone stops sniffing the Clinton snuff and following suit. Hopefully it will be at least 3 weeks before PA, so we can get the holdouts to come out of their caves and realize the truth.

The 5th Horseman

I think the fifth horseman just rounded the bend -- I actually found myself cheering on Tucker Carlson and his little bow-tie. He just interviewed the journalist who quoted Samantha Powers on the" monster" comment. He nailed her. Dude, she tried the smarmy, US press is acquiescent, then he came back with the not wanting to get lectured by someone from a system with such low standards like those in the UK press, he scolded her for burning her source and she came back saying that in the UK off-the-record is negotiated up front and that someone shouldn't be given a pass on a comment because they didn't mean to say it, taking that ball, Tucker asked her why he didn't ask Ms. Powers what she meant by "monster". And stumped. Dang. If I could type faster I would transcribe the thing. Crazy stuff this campaign season.

HAFTA SHAFT YA ON NAFTA

Sorry for the terrible pun, but I came across a link to this article in a comment on HuffPo, and thought I'd like to it here.

Apparently some paper in Winnipeg is reporting that the Chief of Staff for Canada's PM, Ian Brodie, was the first drop in the leaking of the NAFTA memo -- and it claims he was referring to a conversation he'd had with someone from HILLARY'S campaign. We'll see what turns this takes, but, as with anything involving election year politics, I'm sure there's more here than meets the eye.

The World is Watching, Hillary

I'm listening to Barack Obama's speech on MSNBC from Austin, Texas. Once again, he has found the nugget and put it out there.

The world is watching what we do here.

I think that is a shot across the bow to Hillary to let her and her advisers know that her dirty tricks and tactics are not going to make her popular around the world.