Bill Gates: We Need More Foreign Workers

Lou Dobbs, champion of the American worker:

Microsoft's Bill Gates on Capitol Hill yesterday claimed that American firms need more foreign worker visas, even though Indian firms are the largest users of H1B visas. But fawning members of Congress showed little desire to challenge Gates to hire more American workers. Isn’t it amazing to watch public servants, elected to represent their constituents, without a single challenge to the accuracy, the perspective, the reality of working people in the country?

Transcript: Olbermann Denounces Clinton on Ferraro Scandal; Hillary Apologizes

These scorching words might have led to Hillary Clinton apologizing for Ferraro hit on Obama (Read entire comment here and see the video)):

Senator, as it has reached its apex in their tone-deaf, arrogant and insensitive reaction to the remarks of Geraldine Ferraro, your own advisers are slowly killing your chances to become president.

Senator, their words, and your own, are now slowly killing the chances for any Democrat to become president.

Wow:

But in fact, Senator, you are now campaigning as if Barack Obama were the Democrat and you were the Republican.

As Shakespeare wrote, Senator, that way madness lies.

You have missed a critical opportunity to do what was right.

No matter what Ms. Ferraro now claims, no one took her comments out of context.

Hillary's apology. Why did it take so long:

"I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive," Hillary Clinton said. "We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama."

[...]Of Ferraro's comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: "I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee."

Ferraro Racial Slur Part of Clinton Smear Strategy

The fact that Geraldine Ferraro refuses to apologize for racially insensitive remarks and that Hillary Clinton will not denounce them, shows this is part of a deliberate strategy to divide our the voters along racial lines. The Clintons have repeatedly tried this race-baiting strategy throughout the campaign:

Geraldine Ferraro stood by her controversial comments about Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy today.

"I am sorry that people think this was a racist comment," Ferraro said in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."

She declined to apologize directly for the firestorm she created when she told a newspaper last week that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

She told Sawyer she was "absolutely not" sorry for what she said.

Ferraro, a former 1984 vice presidential candidate, also told Sawyer she has no intention of stepping down as a member of Sen. Hillary Clinton's finance committee.

She told Sawyer she was trying to say it's a good thing that Obama was where he was. Ferraro said she was saying that "the black community came out with ... pride in [Obama's] candidacy. You would think he would say 'thank you' for doing that, instead, I'm charged with being a racist."

Now notice the parallel between the Ferraro comments and those by the former presidential candidate in endorsing Clinton in December:

"It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim," said Kerrey, a former governor and the current president of the New School in New York City. "There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal."

Kerrey's mention of Obama's middle name and his Muslim roots raised eyebrows because they are also used as part of a smear campaign on the Internet that falsely suggests Obama is a Muslim who wants to bring jihad to the United States.

Here is Hillary's lame attempt at distancing herself from the comments:

"I do not agree with that," Clinton said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press, and later added, "It's regrettable that any of our supporters - on both sides, because we both have this experience - say things that kind of veer off into the personal."

"We ought to keep this on the issues. There are differences between us" on approaches to health care, energy, experience, Clinton said.

Why doesn't Ms.Clinton fire Ferraro the way the Obama campaign forced out Power for her "monster" comment. In November Obama realized that Hillary would try to swift boat him. He was right:

Obama accused Clinton of “'swift boat’ politics” and vowed he will not be intimidated.

“I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party,” Obama said. “The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old ‘Swift boat’ politics. The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it.”

Ferraro made similar comments 2 weeks ago on--guess which--FOX news. And she was accused of using the race-card by the host:

FERRARO: If Barack Obama were a white man, would we be talking about this as a potential real problem for Hillary?

If he were a woman...

GIBSON: You mean if he were John Edwards?

FERRARO: If he were a woman of any color, would he be in this position that he's in, absolutely not.

GIBSON: Geraldine, are you playing the race card?

Admiral Fallon Removed for Standing up to the Neocons

Admiral Fallon was forced out as so many Generals before him for standing up to a Fascist White House. He should be an inspiration to others to speak out against evil. The Admiral's outspokenness should dispel the myth that being a general means following the orders of a commander-in-chief without question. That's what separates a free country and a dictatorship:

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

"Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region," Fallon, who is traveling in Iraq, said in a statement issued by his U.S. headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

"And although I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America's interests there," he said.

Here's part of that infamous Esquire interview:

When Dick Cheney has rattled his saber, it has generally meant that he intends to use it. And in spite of recent war spasms aimed at Iran from this sclerotic administration, Fallon is in no hurry to pick up any campaign medals for Iran. And therein lies the rub for the hard-liners led by Cheney. Army General David Petraeus, commanding America's forces in Iraq, may say, "You cannot win in Iraq solely in Iraq," but Fox Fallon is Petraeus's boss, and he is the commander of United States Central Command, and Fallon doesn't extend Petraeus's logic to mean war against Iran.

So while Admiral Fallon's boss, President George W. Bush, regularly trash-talks his way to World War III and his administration casually casts Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as this century's Hitler (a crown it has awarded once before, to deadly effect), it's left to Fallon--and apparently Fallon alone--to argue that, as he told Al Jazeera last fall: "This constant drumbeat of conflict . . . is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions."

What America needs, Fallon says, is a "combination of strength and willingness to engage."

Those are fighting words to your average neocon--not to mention your average supporter of Israel, a good many of whom in Washington seem never to have served a minute in uniform. But utter those words for print and you can easily find yourself defending your indifference to "nuclear holocaust."

How does Fallon get away with so brazenly challenging his commander in chief?

The answer is that he might not get away with it for much longer. President Bush is not accustomed to a subordinate who speaks his mind as freely as Fallon does, and the president may have had enough.

The Post's take:

As he was preparing to take command, Fallon said that a war with Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch," according to retired Army Col. Patrick Lang.

Lang, a former analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in an interview that he asked Fallon how he would avoid such a conflict. "I have options, you know," Fallon responded, which Lang interpreted as implying Fallon would step down rather than follow orders he considers mistaken.

Andrew Sullivan: Clintons Ran Against Gays in 1990s

I will repeat this again--you can't trust the Clinton gang. Those of you who are naive enough in supporting Hillary, thinking she is compassionate and committed, please do some research. The evidence is overwhelming that Billary will betray you:

Many readers expressed disbelief at my claim that the Clintons ran anti-gay ads on Christian radio stations in 1996. Did I have proof? Actually, John Aravosis recently provided a very extensive round-up of what happened back then. It's all true. Here's an excerpt from a Log Cabin briefing at the time:

In an article in today's Washington Times, entitled "For Christian Radio, Clinton Changes Tune on Gays, Abortion," it was reported that the Clinton-Gore campaign "shrugged off" angry calls to shelve the radio ad. The article cited reports from gay and lesbian groups that the campaign might delete the portion of the ad which boasts of Clinton signing the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), but "Clinton campaign spokesman Joe Lockhart said there are no plans to alter the radio ads, which will run for 'a few more days.'"

After boasting about Clinton signing the anti-gay DOMA, the ad concludes with the line: "President Clinton has fought for our values and America is better for it."

John also notes that Bill Clinton advised John Kerry to triangulate against gays in 2004. Kerry refused. But the Clintons have used gays in two ways since their careers began...

Geraldine Ferraro: Obama Where He Is Because He's Black

This comment dwarfs the "monster" reference by Samantha Power. Once again a Clinton surrogate smears Barack. Another race-baiting outrage. It will be interesting to hear how Hillary will handle this outrage:

Clinton campaign finance committee member, former vice presidential candidate, and former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-NY, told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Ca., that, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Of Clinton, Ferraro said that the press "has been uniquely hard on her. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign."

"I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he's going to be able to put an end to partisanship. Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship - that's the way our country is."

Bettors Put Their Money on Obama

If you had to bet on who would win the Democratic nomination, who would you vote for. Well, in Ireland you can wager on the election. And they think Obama is a good bet. And if you believe this isn't an accurate way of predicting the actual outcome--think again:

Hillary Clinton will win Democratic primary elections in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia in the coming weeks, but rival Barack Obama will ultimately capture the party's presidential nomination, traders were betting on Monday.

Traders on the Dublin-based Intrade prediction market also put their bets on the Democratic party to hold new primary elections before June 30 in Michigan and Florida, where earlier results were declared invalid in a fight over the date of the elections.

But even that, the traders were betting, wouldn't be enough to help Clinton win the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican John McCain in the November general election.

Intrade traders gave Obama a 75 percent chance of winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. president, versus 23.5 percent for Clinton. Traders on the Iowa Electronic Markets, a nonprofit exchange run by the University of Iowa for research purposes, gave Obama a 74 percent chance of winning, versus 24 percent for Clinton.

Prediction exchanges let traders buy and sell contracts on the likelihood of future events. Contracts are structured so the prices can be read as a percent likelihood of an event occurring. Studies of the prediction markets have shown they have an accuracy comparable to that of public opinion polls.

Read on to get predictions on who will win Mississippi and Pennsylvania.

Foreclosure Crisis is Having a Ripple Effect

The impact of the mortgage foreclosure mess is having a profound impact on the economy. We will all suffer if something isn't done. And there doesn't seem to be any real plan to combat the crisis:

The mortgage foreclosure crisis has caused a drop in cities' revenues, a spike in crime, more homelessness and an increase in vacant properties, a survey of elected local officials out today shows.

About two-thirds of 211 officials surveyed by the National League of Cities reported an increase in foreclosures in their cities in the past year, according to the online and e-mail questionnaire. A third of them reported a drop in revenues and an increase in abandoned and vacant properties and urban blight.

"There's a reduction in revenues at the same time that more services are needed," says Cynthia McCollum, president of the National League of Cities and councilwoman in Madison, Ala., a suburb of Huntsville. "Because of foreclosures, people are stealing, crime is on the rise and we don't have more money for cops on the street."

Drug Traces Common in Drinking Water

We take drinking water for granted. No more. Our food is less safe and so will be our drinking water. We have a government that doesn't believe in protecting the public. They are too busy fighting wars abroad or taking payoffs from lobbyists from the same people that are polluted our environment. How ironic that our troops are being poisoned by water in Iraq just as in the U.S.:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs -- and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen -- in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas -- from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public ''doesn't know how to interpret the information'' and might be unduly alarmed.

Newsweek: Clintons "Always Their Own Worst Enemies"

Great point that Obama should pick up on:

She has implied that she shared a kind of co-presidency with her husband during her White House years in the 1990s. That suggests the co-presidency would continue in another Clinton administration. If the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the Hillary Clinton White House, will she awaken her husband to discuss what to do? (No one really thinks that a First Spouse would be deeply involved, say, in picking bombing targets in response to a terror attack, but the campaign rhetoric and red-phone ad do suggest experience in dealing with security crises.) In fact, a terrorist attack did occur late on the Clintons' first watch: in August 1998, Al Qaeda blew up two U.S. Embassies in Africa. At that time, Hillary Clinton may not have been as engaged as she usually was talking through the president's problems. A couple of weeks earlier, independent counsel Ken Starr had turned up the semen-stained blue dress in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and, at the time of the embassy bombings, the Clintons were reportedly not speaking.

The myth of the Clinton superior campaign team:

The biggest crisis facing Hillary Clinton in recent times is her own campaign. Mixed and ever-changing messages and tactics have confused voters. The Obama campaign out-organized the Clinton campaign, especially in the caucus states. Reports of vicious feuds between her top aides have leaked into the press. It seems that Clinton has been saved mostly by her own gutsiness, not by any particular flair for strategy or for running a large organization.

Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick

Adding insult to injury. The Bush gang is killing our troops needlessly while sickening those who haven't been killed yet. Meanwhile, making money while at it:

Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.

The Defense Department's inspector general's report, which could be released as early as Monday, found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations.

It was impossible to link the dirty water definitively to all the illnesses, according to the report. But it said KBR's water quality "was not maintained in accordance with field water sanitary standards" and the military-run sites "were not performing all required quality control tests."

Studies: Iraq Costs US $12B Per Month

That's money we don't have:

The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion — or more — by 2017.

Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.

60 Minutes Transcript: John McCain Interview

The Republican nominee had interesting answers (read the transcript/article) during his interview on 60 Minutes:

"I wonder at what point do you stop doing what you think is right and you start doing what the majority of the American people want?" Pelley asked.

"Well, again, I disagree with what the majority of the American people want. Failure will lead to chaos, withdrawal will lead to chaos," McCain said at the time.

"That was not what the American people wanted to hear at that time," Pelley pointed out.

"That's exactly right. It's not what they wanted to hear. I can read the polls very well," McCain said.

"But you said it anyway," Pelley said.

"Well, I said, at the time I'd much rather lose a campaign than lose a war. Now, more and more Americans are believing that the surge is succeeding. I'm very glad of that," McCain replied.

What about waterboarding:

Pelley asked him about American interrogation methods today. Asked if water boarding is torture, McCain said, "Sure. Yes. Without a doubt."

"So the United States has been torturing POWs?" Pelley asked.

"Yes. Scott, we prosecuted Japanese war criminals after World War II.
And one of the charges brought against them, for which they were convicted, was that they water-boarded Americans," McCain said.

"How did we lose our way?" Pelley asked.

"I don't know the answer to that. I think one of the failures maybe was not to listen more to our military leadership, including people like General Colin Powell, on this issue," McCain said.

No answers on the economy:

"What do you do for the person who just saw gasoline go from three and a quarter to three fifty on its way to $4?" Pelley asked.

"I would love to tell you that I have an immediate answer for that. And I don't. The only way we are going to fix it is to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. We've got to have a crash program, a all out effort," McCain said. "But, I can't give you straight talk and tell you that tomorrow I can change the price of a gallon of gas."

Aren't you part of the culture of corruption, John?:

"You point your finger at other senators and claim that there is a culture of corruption on Capitol Hill. But you take money from lobbyists who have business before your committee as other senators do. So, how is it that you call the system corrupt?" Pelley asked.

"Well, one of the reasons why I call the system corrupt is because we have members of Congress who are in jail, who are former members of Congress. But it’s not the individuals, it's the system we have today. I believe that I serve with honorable men and women. And I believe that the people who bring their case to government, the overwhelming majority of them are honorable people," McCain said.

"The lobbyists?" Pelley asked.

"Retirees have a lobbyist. Firemen have a lobbyist. Your business has a lot of lobbyists," McCain said.

McCain claims he’s never done a favor for money. He believes he’s being held to a higher standard because of his criticism.

Meet The Press Transcript: Obama, Clinton Surrogates Debate

This was the next best thing to a debate between Obama and Clinton (read the entire transcript):

MR. RUSSERT: Should the candidate who has the most elected delegates be the nominee?

FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: Absolutely. I don't see how we could possibly do anything other than respect the will of the people who have voted in caucus and primary states all over the country. And what it would say to the world, to the country that we'd overturn the verdict of those, of those elections would be travesty for, for the party and for the country.

[...]MR. RUSSERT: Governor Rendell, if, in fact, Barack Obama goes to the convention in Colorado in August with the most elected delegates, having won more contests and a higher popular vote, the cumulative vote, could he be denied the nomination?

GOV. RENDELL: Well, sure, Tim, because, number one, Hillary Clinton has won states with about 260 electoral votes. Barack Obama has won states with about 190. And we decide the presidency not by a popular vote, we decide it by the electoral vote. And the traditional role of the superdelegates is to determine who's going to be our strongest candidate. Tim, you and I have been doing this for a long time, as Tom has, and we know the big four in any presidential election recently are Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and Michigan. And in all four of those states--Pennsylvania hasn't voted yet, but I assume we're going to do real well--Hillary Clinton will have taken those states, if it--she takes Pennsylvania, and will have taken them by significant majorities. She's clearly the strongest candidate in the states that Democrats must win to have a chance. Look, it's great that Barack Obama is doing wonderfully well in Wyoming and Utah and, and places like that, but there's no chance we're going to carry those states. Whether he gets 44 percent as opposed to 39 percent doesn't matter, but we're not going to carry those states. We do have a chance to carry the big four. We've got to in three of the big four. Hillary Clinton's the strongest candidate to do that. That's been proven by the voters in the--those states and hopefully by Pennsylvania as well.

MR. RUSSERT: But, Governor, you're counting Florida when, in fact, the candidates did not campaign in Florida. So you--are you suggesting Hillary Clinton won?

GOV. RENDELL: Oh, there's no question. In an even playing field, nobody campaigned, 1.7 million Floridians voted, and she won by 17 percent. But I have a suggestion, if you don't like that, Tim, or if Tom doesn't like that, let's revote in Michigan and Florida. Let's end all the suspense. If our campaign is wrong and we are not going to be the strongest in those states, let the voters choose it. And Tom always talks about--the Obama folks talk about undemocratic. How can the Democratic Party go to Denver and deny the people of Michigan and Florida, two crucial states, a voice in this, in this nominating process? Makes no sense at all. Let's revote, and let's see how we do.

MR. RUSSERT: But in Michigan, you'll acknowledge that you have said repeatedly that the Clinton campaign cannot make the statement that they won Michigan.

GOV. RENDELL: Right. Which is why I'm calling for a revote.

Here's the shocker. This idiot has the nerve to talk about democracy. Part of democracy means playing by the rules, not making them as you go along:

MR. RUSSERT: Would you accept the caucus in Michigan?

GOV. RENDELL: No. Caucuses are undemocratic. That's another thing. We talk about the superdelegates being undemocratic. If you're a caucus, older people can't vote, older people who vote by absentee ballot. There's no absentee ballots in a caucus. Tim, if you're a shift worker and a lot of our workers, because they're low-income workers, are shift workers, you can't vote in a caucus. So we want primaries. That's the way we elect presidents. We don't have caucuses to elect presidents in the fall. Let's have a primary. Let's decide this. Let's hear from the Obama campaign about a revote in Florida and Michigan.

MR. RUSSERT: So the Iowa caucus, the Nevada caucus were undemocratic.

GOV. RENDELL: Undemocratic compared to primaries, yes.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator...

GOV. RENDELL: Absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator...

GOV. RENDELL: Tim, do you believe, do you believe older people should have the right to vote? They can't in a caucus because they can't get out of the house. So you're disenfranchising some of the most important voters in the fall election. How about that shift worker who works 4 to 12? He can't vote. He might really want to vote, but he can't.

[...]MR. RUSSERT: Senator Daschle, a proposal from the Clinton campaign to have new primaries in Florida, in Michigan, paid for by private donors.

FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: Well, Tim, first of all I think it'll come as a real shock to Iowa and to Nevada and to many other states that they don't have a democratic process. I think that it's very democratic, and we saw yesterday in Wyoming we had a lot of seniors and older people to participate. People from all walks. They were participating in unprecedented numbers, so I, I don't concede that point at all. But let me just say...

GOV. RENDELL: What about shift workers, Tom? What about shift workers and people who can't get out of their homes?

FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: Shift workers, too, Ed. Absolutely.

GOV. RENDELL: What about people who can't get out of their homes?

FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: No, I think--I think everybody--we'll accommodate. We'll accommodate them.

GOV. RENDELL: You can't. There's no absentee ballots in caucuses.

FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: Well, listen, let me--there are a lot of issues with primaries as well that you'd have to address. But, but the bottom line is, you got to play by the rules. We all agreed to the rules earlier in this campaign, Tim, and one campaign now has broken those rules, has decided not to abide by them; and our campaign has chosen to do that, to, to abide by the rules and to, and to work something out. We recognize that those are two very important states. We want to see this resolved. We want the parties to work with the states to come up with a resolution. We'll be competitive, whatever it is. Whatever fair approach that we can employ, we'll forward, we'll take it, we'll do it. But it has to be fair, and it has to be worked out in concert with the parties and, and abide as much as possible with the rules that everybody agreed to six months ago.

MR. RUSSERT: So you would be open to primaries in Michigan and Florida?

FMR. SEN. DASCHLE: Oh, of course. Absolutely. We would be.

Dick Morris: It's Over

Dick Morris was largely responsible for Bill Clinton getting elected in 1992. He knows the Clintons very well. He is also a master strategist. So when Morris says Hillary Clinton can't win he knows what he's talking about:

The real message of Tuesday’s primaries is not that Hillary won. It’s that she didn’t win by enough.

The race is over.

The results are already clear. Obama will go to the Democratic Convention with a lead of between 100 and 200 elected delegates. The remaining question is: What will the superdelegates do then? But is that really a question? Will the leaders of the Democratic Party be complicit in its destruction? Will they really kindle a civil war by denying the nomination to the man who won the most elected delegates? No way. They well understand that to do so would be to throw away the party’s chances of victory and to stigmatize it among African-Americans and young people for the rest of their lives. The Democratic Party took 20 years to recover from the traumas of 1968 and it is not about to trigger a similar bloodletting this year.

John McCain’s nomination guarantees that the superdelegates wouldn’t dare. A perfectly acceptable alternative for most Democrats, McCain would harvest so large a proportion of Obama’s votes if Hillary steals the nomination that he would probably win. Even putting Obama on the ticket would not allay the anger of his supporters; it would just make him complicit in the robbery.

Will Hillary win Pennsylvania? Who cares? Even if she were to sweep the remaining primaries and caucuses by 10 points, she would move just 60 votes closer to Obama’s total of elected delegates. And she won’t sweep them all. Even if Hillary wins Pennsylvania, the largest prize up for grabs, Obama will probably win North Carolina, which is almost as large. He’s likely to win Mississippi and Wyoming and has a good shot in Oregon and Indiana. The most likely result of these coming contests is that Obama will be roughly where he is now, about 140 elected delegates ahead of Hillary.

Economic Crisis Report 3-9-08

This is a transcript of a report given on Lou Dobbs:

• ROMANS: Employers cut 63,000 jobs in February, the largest number in five years. The losses were widespread, coming from many sectors, including construction and manufacturing. And if not for government hiring, job losses would have topped 100,000. President Bush today tried to put the crisis in the best possible light.
• ROMANS: But many fear growth is a long way off. The president's top economic adviser today said the nation could experience negative growth this quarter. And for many middle-class Americans, a recovery doesn't seem to be in their future.
• Alarming since consumer spending drives economic growth. And according to the Labor Department, the number of long-term unemployed remains high especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Those are people out of work for at least six months. At this New York City career center, the number of people looking for work has skyrocketed 50 percent during the past year.
• ROMANS: Grim jobs news, a new record high in oil, a housing market deteriorating by the day, according to new data from the Federal Reserve, consumers are increasingly turning to their credit cards to get by. And the Central Bank is making available billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars to banks to encourage them to keep lending so the economy can grow.
  
  It was a bad day on Wall Street as well as investors reacted to that grim economic news. Stocks tumbled. The Dow closed under 12,000, its lowest level in almost a year and a half.

Meanwhile the CEOs responsible for the collapse of the housing market make millions:

SCHIAVONE: Golden parachutes (ph) to Angelo Mozilo Countrywide CEO, who made $120 million in stocks and options last year and 400 million in stock sales since 1998. Stan O'Neal, former Merrill Lynch CEO who got $161 million in stock options and retirement benefits. Charles Prince, former Citigroup CEO, leaving the company last year with a $10 million bonus, 28 million in stocks and options and 1.5 million in other perks.

REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: You're in the middle of an enormous debacle that ended up costing your companies and shareholders billions of dollars. It cost people their homes. It cost other people their jobs. It seems like everyone is hurting except for you.

SCHIAVONE: Mozilo says he worked hard for the millions he made at Countrywide, the company he co-founded.

ANGELO MOZILO, CEO, COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL: I'm very found of the home ownership opportunities that Countrywide has provided for over 20 million families.

SCHIAVONE: Many such opportunities on the ropes as credit- challenged homeowners across the nation face the threat of foreclosure. The executives before Congress and their company's compensation officers said they were paid for their talent, skills for which evidently there is no price ceiling.

Clinton Openness to Obama as VP is a Political Ploy

The polls show that the public would love to see Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as running mates. This would explain why the "monster" continually mentions the idea during her speeches. It is only the latest ploy coming from the Clinton propaganda machine. Hillary has no intention of choosing Obama as VP. Nor is Obama interested. It's a cheap way of getting votes.

By the way, those same polls still show Barack ahead nationally, and as the most electable.

It is this kind of deviousness that explains why Hillary is hiding her tax returns. Those tactics would include accusing a fellow Democrat of being the Bill Clinton persecutor, Kenneth Starr. This is not the behavior of an honorable person.

Despite all the mud being slung at Barack Obama he continues to gain superdelegates, even when he loses a State.

Bush to Veto Bill Banning Waterboarding

It's official--Bush is a Fascist:

The White House says President Bush will veto legislation on Saturday that would have barred the CIA from using waterboarding - a technique that simulates drowning - and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects.

Bush has said the bill would harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks. Supporters of the legislation argue that it preserves the United States' right to collect critical intelligence while boosting the country's moral standing abroad.

"The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.

Employers Slash Jobs by Most in 5 years

Economic news just keeps getting worse:

Employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years, the starkest sign yet the country is heading dangerously toward recession or is in one already.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate dipped to 4.8 percent as hundreds of thousands of people — perhaps discouraged by their prospects — left the civilian labor force. The jobless rate was 4.9 percent in January.

The consumer thinks things are bad:

Confidence in the economy dropped to a new low as worries about a possible recession, persistent problems in the housing and credit markets and lofty energy prices put people in a more gloomy mind-set.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence sank to a mark of 33.1 in early March, down from 48.5 in February. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002 and surpassed the previous low reached in February.

[...]The continued deterioration in confidence comes even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has signaled that the central bank will keep on cutting a key interest rate to bolster the economy. Congress and the White House, meanwhile, have speedily enacted a relief package that includes tax rebates for people and tax breaks for businesses. Rebates of up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples should start going out in May.

Over the past year, consumer confidence has fallen sharply, underscoring the toll of the ailing housing market and a credit crunch that has made it more difficult for people to secure financing for big-ticket purchases such as homes and cars. Last March, confidence stood at 92.3. The index is based on results of the international polling firm Ipsos.

House Panel Questions High Pay for CEOs

Corporations make big profits from debt and CEOs get obscene salaries and bonuses. Congress wants to investigate this greed, but they themselves are to blame for the subprime mess:

The heads of three companies implicated in the mortgage crisis have been asked to explain how they collectively received hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation while their companies were losing money.

[...]The committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has held several hearings on the issue of high executive compensation. Last December it looked at large, publicly traded companies that hire compensation consultants who are receiving millions of dollars from corporate executives whose compensation they were supposed to assess.

Republicans on the committee questioned the need for the hearing, saying it falls outside the panel's primary role of investigating waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.