NRA Frightened Democrats Silent on Gun Issue

It is a perfect example of what's wrong with government and why no matter which Democrat is elected nothing will be done about the easy access to guns:

The deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., is just the latest example of a growing problem on school campuses across the country. The issue of gun control is certain to be salient in the minds of voters in DeKalb and, for example, Blacksburg, Va., where shots killed 33 people at Virginia Tech University last April.

But so far, the Democratic presidential hopefuls have offered no solutions or preventive measures to combat this problem. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., offered his sympathies, but specified no new ideas to enforce gun control in his home state of Illinois. "I've said before, and continue to believe, that we need to do a more effective job of enforcing our gun laws," he said, speaking in Milwaukee, Wis., on Friday.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., offered similarly vague statements. "We just have to figure out how we are going to get smart about protecting our kids," she said.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Organization, a grassroots effort to prevent gun violence, says we need leadership from both Clinton and Obama on this issue.

But the candidates are quick to remember what happened to Al Gore in 2000. Gore lost West Virginia, in large part, because of negative ads paid for by the NRA. "I think a lot of candidates and politicians are afraid of getting the gun lobby upset," said Helmke. "They fear that talking about guns, it's gonna lose them elections."

Just as with the Virginia Tech shooter, the individual responsible for the massacre in Illinois was mentally unfit to own a gun. Why can't our government even agree that a background check should be done to determine if someone is mentally unstable to purchase a gun? Therefore, mass shootings will continue to go on almost on a weekly basis while the politicians remain silent. Our government is owned by lobbies like the NRA, not the American people. This is why we need an alternative to the two-party sellout.

Michael Moore Exposes Hillary Clinton on Health Care

Leave it to Michael Moore to show government, and the Clintons, at their hypocritical worst. Hillary Clinton went from "Hillarycare" to a darling of the healthcare industry. This video is a must see for those who wonder why 40 million Americans are without health insurance while costs keep rising:

Error Gave F.B.I. Unauthorized Access to E-Mail

Are we slowly losing our freedoms? Under the guise of fighting terrorism the government, with the help of the private sector, has been violating our rights on a unprecedented level. It seems as if no one is looking out for us. We've allowed a President to tear up the Constitution, and Congress to turn acquiesce because they don't want to lose the next election. Are you just going to sit by and let your freedoms disappear. NOT I:

A technical glitch gave the F.B.I. access to the e-mail messages from an entire computer network — perhaps hundreds of accounts or more — instead of simply the lone e-mail address that was approved by a secret intelligence court as part of a national security investigation, according to an internal report of the 2006 episode.

F.B.I. officials blamed an “apparent miscommunication” with the unnamed Internet provider, which mistakenly turned over all the e-mail from a small e-mail domain for which it served as host. The records were ultimately destroyed, officials said.

Bureau officials noticed a “surge” in the e-mail activity they were monitoring and realized that the provider had mistakenly set its filtering equipment to trap far more data than a judge had actually authorized.

The episode is an unusual example of what has become a regular if little-noticed occurrence, as American officials have expanded their technological tools: government officials, or the private companies they rely on for surveillance operations, sometimes foul up their instructions about what they can and cannot collect.

The problem has received no discussion as part of the fierce debate in Congress about whether to expand the government’s wiretapping authorities and give legal immunity to private telecommunications companies that have helped in those operations.

But an intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because surveillance operations are classified, said: “It’s inevitable that these things will happen. It’s not weekly, but it’s common.”

A report in 2006 by the Justice Department inspector general found more than 100 violations of federal wiretap law in the two prior years by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, many of them considered technical and inadvertent.

[...]In the warrantless wiretapping program approved by President Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, technical errors led officials at the National Security Agency on some occasions to monitor communications entirely within the United States — in apparent violation of the program’s protocols — because communications problems made it difficult to tell initially whether the targets were in the country or not.

Past violations by the government have also included continuing a wiretap for days or weeks beyond what was authorized by a court, or seeking records beyond what were authorized. The 2006 case appears to be a particularly egregious example of what intelligence officials refer to as “overproduction” — in which a telecommunications provider gives the government more data than it was ordered to provide.

Pleas Ignored Cost Lives of 100s of Troops in Iraq

It is the greatest indictment of the Iraq war. The safety of our troops was minimized fighting in a war that should never have been started because of the stinginess and incompetence of the Pentagon. The main culprit was Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who thought the war could be fought on the cheap. He sacrificed the lives of brave young Americans for some foolish bureaucratic notion of how to fight a war:

Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps bureaucrats refused an urgent request in 2005 from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, an internal military study concludes.

The study, written by a civilian Marine Corps official and obtained by The Associated Press, accuses the service of "gross mismanagement" that delayed deliveries of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks for more than two years.

Cost was a driving factor in the decision to turn down the request for the so-called MRAPs, according to the study. Stateside authorities saw the hulking vehicles, which can cost as much as a $1 million each, as a financial threat to programs aimed at developing lighter vehicles that were years from being fielded.

[...]The vehicles weigh as much as 40 tons and have been effective at protecting American forces from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the weapon of choice for Iraqi insurgents. Only four U.S. troops have been killed by such bombs while riding in MRAPs; three of those deaths occurred in older versions of the vehicles.

[...]Among the findings in the Jan. 22 study:

• Budget and procurement managers failed to recognize the damage being done by IEDs in late 2004 and early 2005 and were convinced the best solution was adding more armor to the less-sturdy Humvees the Marines were using. Humvees, even those with extra layers of steel, proved incapable of blunting the increasingly powerful explosives planted by insurgents.

• An urgent February 2005 request for MRAPs got lost in bureaucracy. It was signed by then-Brig. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, who asked for 1,169 of the vehicles. The Marines could not continue to take "serious and grave casualties" caused by IEDs when a solution was commercially available, wrote Hejlik, who was a commander in western Iraq from June 2004 to February 2005.

Gayl cites documents showing Hejlik's request was shuttled to a civilian logistics official at the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in suburban Washington who had little experience with military vehicles. As a result, there was more concern over how the MRAP would upset the Marine Corps' supply and maintenance chains than there was in getting the troops a truck that would keep them alive, the study contends.

Mayor Bloomberg Rips George Bush's Rebates as 'Giving drink to Alcoholic'

The rebate is nothing but an election year buying of votes. It also serves to give the impression that government is doing something when in fact it's doing the wrong thing:

Mayor Bloomberg wants to hold an intervention for his boozing Uncle Sam.

In an unusually sharp attack on Washington Thursday, Bloomberg compared the federal government's plan to hand out $600 tax rebate checks to "giving a drink to an alcoholic."

"They want to send out a check to everybody to stimulate the economy," Bloomberg said. "I suppose it won't hurt the economy, but it's in many senses like giving a drink to an alcoholic.

"The government's been doing exactly that. It's been spending money it doesn't have."

And it ain't just Bloomberg who has his doubts about how effective the rebate will be in dealing with a long term threat to the economy:

There's a lot of skepticism in the country about how effective the $168 billion fiscal stimulus package will be, but economists who've crunched the numbers say it will give the economy a much-needed boost in the middle of the year.

"It could make the difference between a short and a long recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com.

But it won't solve the economy's fundamental problems, he said. That will require policymakers making a serious effort to solve the housing and credit crises.

It is at best a short term boost:

Even as President Bush signed a $168 billion stimulus bill Wednesday, kicking off the process of sending billions of dollars in rebates to American taxpayers, economists predicted the move will provide only a short-term boost for the struggling economy.

[...]The payout, placing some $100 billion mostly in the hands of middle- and lower-income taxpayers, should modestly boost the nation's economy in the second half of the year, economists agree. But it may soften the blow of any recession rather than eliminating it, making it shallower than it might be without the injection of new spending.

[...]The president sought this relief as a shot in the arm for an economy which he maintains is going through a "rough patch." The White House, while acknowledging that growth is slowing, does not concede that a recession is coming, though the Bush administration is projecting near-record federal budget deficits this year and next, with the new rebates adding to that deficit.

[...]The minimum payments will be $300 for an individual and $600 for a couple filing a joint tax return. Based on the amount of taxes that people pay, rebates will be as much as $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples. In addition, checks will include $300 for each child in a family eligible for tax credits.

A sliding income scale is designed to send the most money to lower- and middle-income taxpayers, with the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reporting that a couple with two children with an income of $35,000 a year will see a tax rebate of $1,800 – the maximum for a couple with money added for the children.

And because that money will be delivered to people most likely to spend it, rather than save or invest it, economists agree that it should have the intended effect of pumping billions of dollars into an ailing economy.

[...]"At the same time, I don't know much long-term effect this will have," said Sohn, who is among those who believe a recession already is under way. "I think this recession will turn out to be longer than people realize… I think there will be a recession, and I think it will go beyond 2008."

He added, "The problems we are facing – a housing shortage and credit crunch – they are not simply going to go away because of these stimulus rebates."

Kent Hughes, an economist at the Woodrow Wilson Institute in Washington, pegs the impact of the new spending at a boost of one-half percentage point in the GDP. "I think there is a modest positive impact" on the economy, Hughes said.

But "this whole package would have worked better if it were part of a long-term package," he said, suggesting that a new commitment to rebuilding the nation's infrastructure or an Apollo moon program for energy independence would offer longer-range hope for the economy.

Chinese Made Valentine Lollipops Found with Razor Recalled

The danger of Chinese made imports has been forgotten about lately. Then we hear about a lollipop with a piece of a razor blade, that a child could've put in their mouths, brings us back to reality. Just another serious issue that nothing is being done about. And if the media doesn't discuss it the politicians, including presidential candidates, don't discuss it. It will take a serious incident to occur before our worthless government to take action:

The importer of a Valentine's Day lollipop said it was voluntarily recalling the treats after metal fragments were found in at least two lollipops sold at central Florida stores.

Sherwood Brands of Maryland, which imports the candy from China, said it was recalling all of its Pokemon Valentine Cards and Pops, which have been pulled from the shelves of thousands of stores across the country.

Roughly 20 lollipops were seized at Kathleen Elementary School in Lakeland. X-rays determined that only one piece definitely had metal — what appeared to be a staple — baked inside, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

On Wednesday, a woman in nearby Mulberry told authorities she found a lollipop with a piece of metal in it in a bag of the same product. The metal appeared to be part of a razor blade, authorities said.

The sheriff's office issued a safety advisory and the Dollar General chain removed the product from its more than 8,000 stores nationwide. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating.

Judd said the two tainted lollipops were purchased from different Dollar General stores near Lakeland. He said the lollipops did not appear to have been tampered with and it appeared the metal was baked into the candy in China, where it was produced.

Clinton Campaign Didn't Pay Bills Until Exposed by Press

This is typical of the crooked Clinton gang. Thanks to Raw Story for the article:

When Hillary Clinton left New Hampshire in January as the big winner, a doctor and building owner says she forgot to leave something on her way out of the state: a rent check. After finally getting paid the money he was owed, the doctor says he'll donate the proceeds to the campaign of her rival, Senator Barack Obama.

“Thirty days went by, with no replies to phone calls, e-mails, no replies at all. Suddenly a newspaper article comes out. It was the worst publicity they could get. Three days go by and I get a check,” said Terry Bennett of Rochester, NH says in a Wednesday article by Karen Dandurant in Seacoast Online, the website of the Portsmouth Herald.

Bennett went to an area newspaper with his story after the Clinton campaign was late in paying him a $500 rent check. He had rented the space to Clinton's team for 5 days before the Jan. 8 primary, and it was used as a headquarters and dormitory.

Bennett also said that the Clinton campaign left the space "trashed."

[...]Bennett was eventually sent the rent check via express mail, but another landlord in Iowa where Clinton placed third in the Jan. 3 caucus told the paper that he had not yet received a $7,600 payment for space he had rented out to the campaign.

Here's the version from the newspaper involved:

Rochester physician Terry Bennett said he rented a city building to people who worked for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign — and skipped town without paying the bill.

Making matters worse, Bennett said, the 3,000-square-foot building at 236 Union St. was left trashed. Campaign signs were left lying all over the place, he said.

[...]Calls and e-mails from the Herald to Kathleen Strand, Clinton's New Hampshire spokeswoman, were not immediately returned. E-mails and attempts to reach Walsh by phone, as well as calls to a woman who picked up the keys from Whitney, were not returned.

The Herald also made a call to Clinton's national campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va. A woman reached in the press office said she would try to get someone who could respond, but there was no response.

Neither Bennett nor Whitney knew how many people actually stayed in the building. The rent charged was $100 a day, for a total of $500.

Whitney, with the firm of Keller Williams Coastal Realty, confirmed the building was not left in good condition.

"We had to pick up after them," he said.

Whitney said he has been trying to collect rent for four weeks.

"I sent about 20 e-mails," said Whitney. "I hear the Clinton campaign is out of money. Maybe the woman got laid off. I called, but they will not return any of my calls."

This week, national news reports said Hillary Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million of her personal fortune. Bennett said he finds it hard to believe she can't afford $500.

When the group did not give him a check for the amount up front, as per the agreement, Whitney said, he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

"But they packed up and left," he said.

Superdelegates will Support Obama

The superdelegates will support the frontrunner:

If the Intermission sounds like a nightmare scenario for Democrats, that's because it is. "This is something the Democrats would want to avoid pretty significantly," says election scholar Rhodes Cook. "The longer this goes on, the more bitterness, the more party turmoil, the more infighting there is." Superdelegates can't stomach the thought of hurting the party's chances next November; they are, after all, the faithfullest of the party faithful. But barring huge Obama landslides in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, they're probably going to have to break the tie and pick the nominee at some point--and for the party, sooner is better than later. (See above.) Which is why, for the first time since Jan. 4--the morning after his Iowa upset--Obama now looks like the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

Here's how I see it. Last night, Obama didn't just crush Clinton in Virginia (64-35), Maryland (60-37) and Washington, D.C. (75-24). He made a convincing argument for his strength against McCain in the general election. First off, he took three primaries and even captured the white vote in Virginia, rebutting two key Clinton charges--that he wins only when competing in activist-friendly caucuses or inside his comfort zone (blacks and young voters as opposed to southern whites). What's more, the Illinois senator trounced Clinton 69-30 among the 22 percent of Democratic primary voters who said they were independents, and widened the gap--72-23--among the seven percent who self-identified as Republicans. All told, Obama's vote total last night exceeded all Republicans combined by more than 100,000. As Jonathan Martin writes, "Obama has a real chance to break the GOP's 44-year hold on Virginia this fall."

[...]"If Obama comes out having only lost one state between Super Tuesday and March 11, it would be tough to argue that he hasn't clearly established an edge," says Cook. "That pause would be the first opportunity for all of these players who are pressuring for a decision to weigh in, and that might be enough to tip it." In other words, it may be that the Democratic party spends this first "Intermission" making sure the second one never happens.

She is now slipping among her core group. This is the beginning of the end:

Hillary Rodham Clinton's crushing losses in Maryland and Virginia highlight an erosion in what had been solid advantages among women, whites and older and working-class voters. While this week's results can be explained by those states' relatively large numbers of blacks and well-educated residents - who tend to be Barack Obama supporters - her presidential campaign could be doomed if the trends continue.

Clinton is holding onto some of her supporters who are largely defined by race and often by level of education, such as low-income white workers and older white women, exit polls of voters show. She's been losing other blocs, again stamped by personal characteristics, such as blacks, men and young people both black and white, and better-educated whites.

The latest defeats have slowed the one-time favorite's political momentum at a bad time. With Obama winning eight straight contests and easily outdistancing her in money raising, she must now endure three weeks until primaries in Texas and Ohio that she hopes will resurrect her campaign.

[...]Before Tuesday's voting, the two were even among white males this year. Obama defeated her among that group by 18 percentage points in Virginia - his first win with white men in a Southern state - and they divided white men about equally in Maryland. Obama has done especially well with men who are college educated.

Tuesday's voting highlighted the ground Clinton has lost with groups that have been strongholds of her support.

Hillary ought to listen to some advice, other than the sycophants whom surround her. This comes from "professionals":

1. It's The Economy, Stupid: Clinton began the race with a clear advantage over Obama among voters who cited the economy as the most pressing issue facing the country. That edge narrowed and then disappeared altogether as the contest stretched on. Fred Yang, a Democratic pollster, suggested that Clinton should revive a message similar to her husband's "It's the economy, stupid" mantra that defined the 1992 presidential race. "She should issue an economic 'white paper'," said Yang.

[...]2. Make News: In the wake of Super Tuesday, the Clinton campaign appears to have fallen into a "play it safe" mode that no longer fits the sort of campaign she must run to beat Obama. "She needs to start making news, by having interesting things to say,"[...]

[...]3. Internet Cash = Loyal Supporters: Many within the broad orbit of the Clinton campaign don't think enough has been made of the fact that more than $12 million has been raised online since Super Tuesday. The money story has been almost unremittingly bad for Clinton in the past week -- Obama raised $32 million in January alone, Clinton was forced to loan her campaign $5 million before the Feb. 5 votes. But this storyline, according to party strategists, is one that has potential to show that there are a good many people in the country who believe strongly in Clinton and are willing to show it by giving small-dollar contributions to her cause.


[...]4. Over-perform in Wisconsin: The Badger State primary is set for Feb. 19 and represents the last, best chance for Clinton to win (or at least lose by less than expected) before March 4. While there is a considerable progressive base in Wisconsin -- in Madison in particular -- there are a lot of blue collar, lower middle class white voters who could be responsive to a Clinton message heavy on the economy. Losing by a large margin in Wisconsin -- coupled with an expected big Obama win in his home state of Hawaii -- could be the beginning of the end for Clinton.

Conservatives Revisit Third Party

This is bad news for McCain. As with both parties, the true believers will always be betrayed by the whoring politician who will say and do whatever gets them elected. This is why we need to turn away from the duopoly:

The same conservative Christian activist who called a meeting last fall to discuss backing a third-party candidate to counter a possible Rudy Giuliani candidacy is revisiting the idea as Sen. John McCain closes in on the Republican presidential nomination.

[...]Several Christian conservative leaders dismiss renewed talk of a third-party strategy, but any significant loss of conservative Christian voters could spell trouble for McCain in a close general election.

"Some of these folks might be trying to send a signal to McCain," said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University. "There are also some people in that movement who believe McCain is hopeless. And they're not bluffing."

McCain already faces danger if conservative Christians are not energized about his candidacy, and the prospect of a third-party candidate siphoning off even a half-percentage point of McCain support could be a difference-maker, Rozell said.

[...]Fischer said that for large numbers of social conservatives to entertain backing McCain, he would need to reverse himself on several positions, including his support for relaxing restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. Fischer said if McCain prevails short of doing that, he and many other conservatives "will not work as hard as we could" to elect him.

He then raised the possibility of Christian conservatives lining up behind the Constitution Party, citing its conservative moral stances and ability to get on state ballots, a steeper challenge for an entirely new party.

The Constitution Party, which calls itself "completely pro-life, pro-gun, pro-American sovereignty and independence," has secured spots on about 16 state ballots and hopes to exceed 40, national field director Gary Odom said. The party has nominated founder Howard Phillips as its presidential candidate in the past and will select its candidate in April.

Hillary Clinton Campaign in Big Trouble

Obama now has the outright lead:

Sen. Barack Obama took the lead in the race for Democratic delegates for the first time Tuesday, moving ahead of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

[...]Obama won at least 65 delegates in Tuesday's primaries, with 70 still to be awarded. Clinton won at least 33.

Obama won 52 of Washington state's 78 delegates, according to caucus results released by the state party Tuesday night. Clinton won 26.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama had 1,223, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,198.

It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

He is cutting into her base. She has no more excuses:

Hillary Rodham Clinton has set up Texas and Ohio as her firewall, but the results from Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama's most recent victories give her plenty of reason to worry whether it will hold up.

Obama won sweeping victories in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, cutting into her lead among her most reliable base voters and adding to a glut of bad news for Clinton. Combine the shake-up of her senior campaign staff, the candidate's $5 million loan to keep her campaign afloat, her eight straight losses in the past week and there's not much that makes Clinton look like a winning candidate. That's counting the prospect of more losses next week in Obama's native Hawaii and in Wisconsin, next door to the Illinois senator's adopted state.

[...]her strategy is reminiscent of another New Yorker who once was a front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination. Republican Rudy Giuliani also argued he could survive a month of losses and then come back in Florida, but by the time that vote came all the momentum had shifted away from him.

Clinton has been confident about her chances in Texas and Ohio next month because they fit her pattern of victory — they are primary states where she has the support of leading elected officials. Many of the voters in those states are from her base — older or lower income or white or Hispanic or, of course, women.

But exit surveys conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks during Obama's overwhelming victories Tuesday showed she can't rely on those groups any more.

Clinton's campaign can't explain Obama's win as a black thing, since most of the voters in the two states are white. The two split the white vote in Virginia evenly, while Clinton won with that group in Maryland by 10 percentage points. Before Tuesday, Clinton had clearly defeated Obama among whites in all but three states with Democratic primaries, and had a 14 percentage point advantage with white voters in those prior contests combined.

She can't object to the process being a caucus instead of a more representative primary. All three contests were primaries, and he won all three by more than 20 percentage points.

He's even winning older voters. That's really bad news for Billary:

Older voters had been solidly in Hillary Clinton's camp in nearly every primary contest to date.

But according to exit polls out of both Virginia and Maryland, the New York senator lost those voters to Barack Obama in Tuesday’s primaries.

Among voters over 60, Obama beat Clinton by 8 points in Virginia and 4 points in Maryland.

And she is a sore loser:

For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.

On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.

On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).

The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.

Obama Victory Speech Transcript 2-12-08

If you didn't hear Obama's spectacular speech last night, you missed something really special. At least you can read the transcript:

This is the new American majority. This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up. And in this election, your voices will be heard.

Because at a time when so many people are struggling to keep up with soaring costs in a sluggish economy, we know that the status quo in Washington just won't do. Not this time. Not this year. We can't keep playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result – because it's a game that ordinary Americans are losing.

It's a game where lobbyists write check after check and Exxon turns record profits, while you pay the price at the pump, and our planet is put at risk. That's what happens when lobbyists set the agenda, and that's why they won't drown out your voices anymore when I am President of the United States of America

It's a game where trade deals like NAFTA ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart. That's what happens when the American worker doesn't have a voice at the negotiating table, when leaders change their positions on trade with the politics of the moment, and that's why we need a President who will listen to Main Street – not just Wall Street; a President who will stand with workers not just when it's easy, but when it's hard.

It's a game where Democrats and Republicans fail to come together year after year after year, while another mother goes without health care for her sick child. That's why we have to put an end to the division and distraction in Washington, so that we can unite this nation around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

McCain Turns Down FEC Matching Funds

This from Mr.Campaign Reform. The "maverick" is just turning out to be a another establishment politician:

John McCain will turn down government matching funds for his primary campaign, a move that frees the Arizona senator and campaign finance reform advocate from spending caps.

In a letter to the Federal Elections Commission Monday, the presumptive Republican nominee wrote he will "make no requests for matching payments, and will not accept matching-fund payments, including the initial amounts and other amounts certified by the Federal Election Commission in connection with previous submissions."

McCain had asked to participate in the system, in a last ditch effort to keep his cash-poor campaign alive. In December, the FEC said he was eligible for $5.8 million. But had he accepted that money, McCain would have only been allowed to spend about $54 million total on his primary campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Clinton not Ready to Release Tax Returns

You think she has something to hide:

Resisting calls from Barack Obama to release her income tax returns, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would only do so if she secures the Democratic presidential nomination and contended her rival had been less than candid about his relationship with major campaign contributors.

[...]After the former first lady acknowledged she had lent her campaign $5 million in personal funds, Sen. Obama suggested she release her tax records as he has done to give voters a better accounting of where her money comes from.

The Clintons have become wealthy since leaving the White House in 2001, largely through Bill Clinton's consulting and speaking fees and the couple's lucrative book deals.

The Reason for the Sub Prime Housing Crises

If you wonder how we got to the point with a housing crisis caused by the Sub Prime collapse? Look no further than the powerful National Association of Realtors. This from OpenSecrets.org:

The National Association of Realtors represents the nation’s real estate industry. While the bulk of its issues tend to deal with property management and control, the group also lobbies members of Congress and the administration on virtually every issue facing business, including health care reform, bankruptcy legislation and tax cuts. One of its biggest issues in recent years has been a move toward deregulating the financial services industry. For years, real estate agents have successfully warded off attempts by banking interests to delve into the sale and management of property. One of the keys to the group’s success: It supports Democrats and Republicans almost equally.

They are the 3rd largest political donors. That is why.

60 Minutes Easy on Hillary Clinton, Tougher on Obama

It was a shameful piece of journalism. Katie Couric totally rolled for Hillary Clinton, allowing her to hit pitch after pitch out of the ball park [read the entire transcript]:

• Now she finds herself locked in a fierce battle with her opponent Barrack Obama. But she's already won several big states and she's got her eye on two important primaries in early March, Texas and Ohio.
  
  With the Democratic nomination in the balance, she remains focused, energized and anything but defeatist.
• "Even in your deepest darkest moments, when you're exhausted, you don't think 'Oh my gosh, I'm going through this, I'm spending so much money, I'm so tired and this could be all for naught?' What if that happens?" Couric asked. "You have to, once in a while, think that. No?"
  
  "No, Katie," Clinton said. "You can't think like that. You have to believe you're going to win."
• "How do you do it? I mean, the satellite interviews, the speeches, the travel, the debates, the schmoozing, the picture taking, 24/7," Couric asked. [Couric did interrupt to challenge her canned answer]
• Asked if she pops vitamins or drinks a lot of coffee, Clinton said, "I take vitamins. I drink tea, not coffee anymore. I have really stopped drinking diet drinks. Because I found that they gave you a jolt, but they weren't good over the long run. I used to drink a lot of them. I drink tons of water. Just as much water as I can possibly drink."
• "Not one scintilla of bad blood between you now?" Couric asked.
  
  "Not from my side, no," Clinton said. "I was sitting on that stage in Los Angeles and I was thinking to myself, 'This is what I have dreamed of my entire life,' you know." [Couric should've challenged this statement and pointed out her race-baiting during the South Carolina primary]
• Asked if the media has treated her the same way as they've treated Obama, Clinton told Couric, "I think the media has certainly been very, shall we say, tough on me."
  
  "Tougher on you than Senator Obama?" Couric asked.
  
  "Or nearly anybody else, the best I can tell. But that's okay," Clinton said.
  
  "You've said, 'I've been through the Republican attacks. And I've been vetted.' And cynics suggest that you're insinuating there's some deep, dark secret that is in Barack Obama's past that will be somehow unveiled by a GOP attack machine," Couric said.
  

Coversely, Obama's interview tonight was more like a real interview [read the transcript here]:

• "I know you'd like to consider yourself the underdog. But by the time we're finished with the next round, it's possible, maybe even likely, that you'll have more delegates than Senator Clinton. Or that you will have won more states. And that you will have raised more money. And have more money on hand. So explain to me how you're an underdog," Kroft asked.
• "I mean, one of the problems that you have, still, is the question of experience. And you've done a lot of remarkable things in your life. But when you sit down and you look at the résumé - there's no executive experience. And, in fact, correct if I'm wrong, the only thing that you've actually run was the Harvard Law Review," Kroft pointed out.
• "You talk about big ideas and often with a lack of specificity. And it’s been one of the complaints about your campaign," Kroft remarked.
• To some people he can come across as being cocky and a bit aloof; others see it as confidence.

Bush FOXNews Transcript: McCain a "True Conservative"

If you say so, George. What you didn't say is that he is much a Conservative as you are (read the entire transcript):

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Absolutely. I know him well. I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him and no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative. Now I do want to make sure that you don't rope me into getting into this primary before it ends because we have another conservative candidate in Mike Huckabee still running.

Did he ask for your help?:

BUSH: I think that if John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee ...

But he voted against your tax cuts:

WALLACE: Let's talk about some of the issues that give conservatives heartburn with McCain and quite frankly issues where he broke with you. He was one of only two Republicans — I don't have to remind you — who voted against your tax cuts. The first time, he said because he said they tilted too far towards the rich.

BUSH: He is for making the tax cuts permanent.

WALLACE: And what he did in 2001 and 2003 doesn't bother you?

BUSH: No. He absolutely has said that and he's the kind of fellow who says something, he'll do it and he said, these tax cuts ought to be made permanent. See, you're trying to get me in the trap again of getting involved in this primary and it's not even over yet.

Questions over Hillary Clinton's Family Wealth

The Clintons can't seem to do anything without it being dishonest or crooked:

Hillary Clinton is coming under growing pressure to be more open about the sources of her family’s wealth after she revealed that she had been forced to loan her cash-strapped campaign $5 million.

Critics are claiming that her husband Bill Clinton’s lucrative financial dealings since leaving the White House may expose her campaign to conflicts of interest, and are calling for her to publish the full details of her earnings and assets.

Sen Clinton has made more than $9 million from her 2003 memoirs.

But the biggest earner in the family is the former president, who is finalising an estimated $20 million pay-out from a six-year stint as an investment fund advisor, and has raked in many millions more from consultancy deals, speeches and his writings.

The couple left the White House with $2 million in legal debts in 2001 but are now worth between $10 million and $50 million, according to her latest Senate financial disclosure filings, which allow candidates to list their assets in broad ranges.

Mrs Clinton can put half the funds held jointly with her husband towards her presidential bid under campaign finance laws.

By contrast, her rival Barack Obama emphasised last week that he released his annual tax returns, which break down earnings and assets in detail.

“I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from,” he said pointedly.

Obama Clean Sweeps Hillary

Today's vote outcome reaffirms the momentum Obama has demonstrated since before Super Tuesday. Hillary needs to worry. Even before today's outcomes a poll showed the Illinois Senator with the lead nationally. Does she have any dirty tricks left? Hillary has even had the temerity of calling Obama the establishment candidate. Why else is she trying to steal the delegates from the boycotted Florida and Michigan contests?

Obama's victory was broad, as it was decisive. He won among men (52%), women (54%), lower and upper income voters, and was almost evenly split among those who voted who would best be the commander-in-chief:

Sen. Barack Obama will win the Louisiana Democratic primary, CNN projects.

[...] With 50 percent of Democratic precincts reporting, Obama led Hillary Clinton 53-39 percent. Huckabee led McCain 48-39 percent, with 49 percent of Republican precincts reporting.

Obama and Huckabee both claimed victory in Saturday's earlier contests.

Obama was projected to take Washington state and Nebraska by a substantial margin, and Huckabee scored a resounding win in Kansas.

Huckabee won all 36 of the Kansas delegates at stake.

Obama and Huckabee have done well in caucus states like Iowa, where grass-roots efforts are more likely to have greater influence.

Obama catching up on the delegate count:

In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests.

In initial allocations, Obama had won 31, Clinton nine.

In overall totals in The Associated Press count, Clinton had 1,064 delegates to 1,029 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the national convention in Denver.

Its no wonder she is in a state of panic:

Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart her rival Barack Obama's ambitions.

The Clinton camp is braced for Mr Obama to win a series of primary elections over the next three weeks, which they fear could hand the Illinois senator unstoppable momentum in the race for the White House.

Mr Obama has begun calling those "super delegates" - 795 congressmen and senior party officials who could break a dead heat - who are committed to Mrs Clinton, asking them to change their minds and help him wrap up the nomination.

As of tonight, the two candidates were neck and neck but Mr Obama appeared to be gaining momentum.

War Strains U.S. Military in Tackling new Crises

Forget about taking on Iran. It is criminal that our government (i.e.,Bush) has put our nation in this position. I guess we'll realize it when a new military crisis arises. For now the problem is ignored. Including by the Presidential candidates:

A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite security gains in Iraq, the military was not able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.

Glenn Beck: McCain will Destroy the Conservative Movement

John McCain has made many enemies among the Conservatives. One in particular, CNN host, Glenn Beck, had some really harsh things to say about the likely Republican nominee. Watch the video to get a real feel for the level of hostility that exists against McCain: