Tuesday, May 27, 2008

An Iraqi point of view.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Obama in Portland - 75,000 people


Now these are lobbyists I like.



Result From Our First Regatta of 2008

The four of us race the boat M-9. We were beaten by a boat with two US professionals (Burdick and Melges), and a professional from Italy (Frederico Michetti). They were awsome, as their results show. They also were very nice gentlemen to race against. In fact everyone in the top five was a pro sailer but us. It was great racing but cold.


Place Boat# Skipper R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total Pts
1 I-45 A. BURDICK 3 1 1 2 2 9
2 M-9 T. BURTON 9 5 2 1 5 22
3 V-37 A. BARKOW 1 16 3 3 4 27
4 V-123 K. JEWETT 7 4 4 13 1 29
5 X-751 J. GLUEK 17 6 16 12 3 54
6 I-71 K. WRUK 11 11 14 8 12 56
7 GL-7 T. SUTHERLAND 10 18 7 10 13 58
8 WH-77 T. MUNROE 22 9 9 7 25 72
9 I-0 B. PORTER 2 2 46 BFD 4 21 75
10 MA-14 C. HORROCKS 33 13 8 20 14 88
11 W-47 L. HILL 4 8 21 29 28 90
12 CR-100 B. WALTER 23 10 18 31 9 91
13 D-301 M. HETZLER 14 22 12 18 27 93
14 CR-66 R. TERRY 12 25 46 DNC 5 7 95
15 J-80 J. SCHLOESSER 26 23 10 21 18 98
16 I-14 M. JORDON 15 30 11 27 16 99
17 WA-99 C. CALL 8 19 46 BFD 16 11 100
18 D-55 T. O'KEEFE 16 22 46 DNC 6 6 106
19 H-13 P. HEANEY 24 28 23 14 17 106
20 H-7 L. SCHOOR 46 DNF 20 17 11 15 109
21 I-17 C. BEAUDAY/C. HARRETT 13 3 6 46 DNC 46 DNC 114
22 TO-101 A. BRERETON 5 26 13 25 46 DNF 115
23 X-11 C. BARKOW 6 7 46 BFD 46 DNC 10 115
24 D-20 D. EVERHART 27 21 19 17 33 117
25 CH-6 R. TURNER 25 14 46 BFD 9 26 120
26 H-33 T. TIEFENTHALER 35 12 15 35 24 121
27 WA-21 D. IRMSCHER 34 33 25 28 8 128
28 V-74 W. GRAVES 19 46 DNF 5 15 46 DNF 131
29 D-42 R. BEERS 18 34 29 24 31 136
30 WA-47 B. HENDRICH 30 15 46 BFD 23 23 137
31 GL-31 J. SUTHERLAND 39 17 20 37 29 142
32 I-22 M. GANNON 46 DNF 29 28 26 20 149
33 X-20 P. MAAS 40 24 22 34 30 150
34 X-4 E. QUADRACCI 28 46 DNF 26 36 19 155
35 CR-12 R. HALLIDAY 29 46 DNF 27 22 34 158
36 SC-22 W. HANCKEL 20 27 24 46 DNC 46 DNC 163
37 WA-200 R. LEMBERG 32 35 31 33 35 166
38 I-818 J. SIMMS 41 46 DNF 46 DNS 19 32 184
39 V-15 E. GOOD 31 31 30 46 DNC 46 DNC 184
40 D-1883 B. BUZZELL 46 DNC 46 DNC 46 DNC 30 22 190
41 D-66 P. MATTISON 21 46 DNC 46 DNC 32 46 DNC 191
42 I-564 S. SCHALK 36 46 DNF 46 DNS 46 DNC 46 DNC 220
43 I-333 F. DAVENPORT 37 46 DNF 47 DNS 46 DNC 46 DNC 221
44 TO-33 S. JOHANSON 38 46 DNF 46 DNC 46 DNF 46 DNC 222
45 WA-8 J. B. VAN METER 42 46 DNC 46 DNC 46 DNC 46 DNC 226

Voting Records

I find it annoying when someone says that Obama "has the most liberal voting record" when his record is similar to most of the other Democrats. The only difference is that he has a lot of NV (no votes) as, like McCain and Clinton, he has been campaigning.

Here is his actual voting record.

So the conservative National Journal compared Clinton and Obama. She was ranked 16th and he was ranked 1st in "liberal voting."

Guess how many times they voted differently? Twice. Does that really make Obama significantly more "liberal" than Clinton?

The hilarious thing is that Clinton voted against establishment of a Senate Office of Public Integrity while Obama and McCain voted for it's establishment.

The second vote they differed on was when she voted against allowing certain immigrants to stay in the United States while renewing their visas, while he voted for that.

That is it.

Now let's look at how often Senators voted with their party:

Here is the link for the 110th Congress.

Obama scores a 96.7% rating and Clinton scores a 97.2% rating. Humm, Obama must have voted with the Republicans more than Hillary. Seven Senators voted with their Party more often than Obama. I am sure it will surprise no one that Obama is a Democrat and votes that way.

The Democrat scoring lowest, in voting the party line, is Ben Nelson of Nebraska, with a 79.3% correlation to his party. The next worst is Landrieu and Bayh at 83%

Clearly most Democrats, and Republicans, vote predominantly along the party line. Republicans, surprisingly enough, have voted more often with Democrats than Democrats have voted with Republicans.

My conclusion is that calling Obama the "most liberal Senator" is either disingenuous or naive. It may make good political hay for the reactionary or uneducated masses, but it does not tell us much in terms of how liberal or conservative he is relative to other legislators.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

McCain's Advisors, Lobbyists, and His DCI Problem

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Taxes

KBR, the military contractor rewarded with billions in no bid contracts, avoids Social Security and Unemployment taxes. Why? Dick Cheney had KBR incorporate in the Cayman Islands.

Great, just flipping great.

More

Monday, May 12, 2008

Contrast in Two Political Broadcasters.

Both of these men are talented and influental.

Josh and his wife are new parents. I think Bill is without children, but writes books like "Kids Are Americans Too" and "The O'Reilly Factor For Kids: A Survival Guide for America's Families."

Who would you want as a father?

Josh Marshall



Or

Bill O'Reilly (you will notice between the time I posted this and now, this video is "no longer available." Humm... O'Reilly being able to get this thing off the net should scare the hell out of Americans.)



Here is an edited version:

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Oh My!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Voting Nuns -- Nope!

From TPM

"About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday, from a polling place, by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives."


What is really funny is that they were turned away by one of their own Sisters at the convent.
Yet again the Indiana Voter ID Law : a real law enacted to solve a pretend problem. Unfortunately the Indiana Law will cause a whole bunch of legitimate voters to be disenfranchised.