How is it that the GOP is winning the debate about the surge?

Here is a video of Joseph Stiglitz at the LSE discussing the surge and the war.

Since I don't have a television, when I'm not on DailyKos or the internet, I get most of my news from NPR.

Back on February 9th, NPR aired a piece on Weekend Edition between Juan Williams and Scott Simon where Juan Williams said this:

"On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has about 832 delegates and Barack Obama has about 820."

Here is the Link. Quote starts at two minutes.

Does this sound correct to you?

It isn't. That is a number that was pulled out of seemingly thin air. More below.

There is a LOT of confusion about the delegate counts and who is winning vs. who is losing. I thought I would write a quick dairy to clarify a few things about the delegate count.

Since the SuperDelegates are NOT committed to either candidate until the convention I believe we need to leave them out of any official count. Also, they can change at any moment and are free to do so. In addition, I have yet to see a major network (CNN, MSNBC, NYTIMES, etc.) actually list the delegates by name that are supporting each candidate. It is hard to believe the numbers. The one place I have seen a list is at Democratic Convention Watch That site is worth checking out.

Jerome Armstrong has been posting comments like this:

"I've said it before; basically, that if Obama is gonna be the nominee, he's gotta do it by getting a large enough delegates to surpass the inclusion of FL & MI, and what that pads Clinton."

http://www.mydd.com/... 13743/189/32#32

The FACT is that Obama has ALREADY surpassed Clinton in the delegate count. Even INCLUDING Florida and Michigan.

My mom is my hero.

With a 1 year old and jobs and everything else going on in our lives, my wife and I have not been too active in Obama's campaign. We wanted to be, but when do you find the time? Instead, we have been contributing to his campaign whenever we feel a little guilty and hoping that others are filling the gap.

My MOM is one of those filling the gap!

Dear Mr. Kos,

With all due respect, I am making this request that you add the word "Obama" to the Daily Kos spellcheck word list. I'm really getting sick and tired of the little stupid dotted red line under his name EVERY time I write it.

What do you have against him anyway?

Poblano published his Super Tuesday Preview today and it got me thinking about DELEGATES! Since we mainly talk about the popular vote and argue about which candidate is better around here, I thought I would take a quick look at what could happen with the Delegates, especially after Super Tuesday.

I'll keep this short.

Today, NASA and NOAA announced that Hell has officially frozen over.

Click the link to see the official satellite shot for yourself.

NASA/NOAA Shot Of Hell Freezing Over

I have a 1 year old son. We read together every night. Tonight's book was:

"Moo, Baa, La La La!" by Sandra Boynton

(I recommend it. You can buy it here: Moo, Baa, La La La! at Amazon)

I like the book because there is an important message about politics and truth contained in it.

Here they are doing what they do best!

Does anyone else around here get bombarded with campaign spam?

Sometimes I have to remind myself why I signed up to receive emails from all the Democratic Candidates in the first place. As I recall it was so I could keep up to speed with all the campaigns and also to give me another avenue into where they stand. After clicking on them a few times I concluded that in reality they are almost entirely fund-raising spam and usually they go immediately into the trash bin.

Tonight I opened one such piece of Spam from the Clinton campaign.

The title was:

You, me, a TV, and a bowl of chips

and it was from "Bill Clinton" <info@hillaryclinton.com>.

Now that the Housing Bubble is bursting all the candidates are coming out with some kind of plan to help people that are having trouble paying their mortgages.

I would have agreed with this policy until I took a look at Hillary's press release about it.

I never wanted to be a barber. (But maybe a hairstylist...)

I wanted to be... a senator!

Guiding legislation as it makes its way through the halls of the District of Columbia!

The fillibuster!  The quorum call!  The mighty non-binding resolution!

With my best page by my side, we'd sing, sing, sing...

There is an oil workers strike going on right now in Iraq.

The story includes the murders of Iraqi Union leaders, direct talks with Malaki, the strike itself, a recent confrontation with the Iraqi Army,  and now a call to arrest the Union leaders leading the strike.

Here is a most interesting quote:

On Tuesday, al-Maliki warned that he would meet threats to oil production "with an iron fist".

(Sidenote: Which "iron fist" do you plan to use Mr. al-Maliki? The Iraqi Army or the United States Army?)

At this point you are probably asking: Yeah, OK, But what does this have to do with Bush?

ON DAILYKOS, MAY 31, 2007
The UNANIMOUS Declaration of the People of the United States of America.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

It seems to me that every other diary around here is a moaning and pissing diary about how the Democrats are pitiful because they caved over the spending bill. Wow! I like it, but I have to ask myself this question: WHERE HAVE YOU ALL BEEN? (I realize that many on this site have been against the war from the beginning, hence the number of Dean supporters here, but I know  that many on here must have also supported the war back in 2002.) Listen up people: The reasons the Democrats aren't capable of stopping this war are the same now as they were on Oct. 10, 2002. 1. War mongering. 2. "Look Strong" 3. Money/Oil 4. A Majority Of Democrats Actually Supported The War (and still do, at least the idea of sending this money to the troops) 5. Lies

Yes. It is time for another diary about someone that is converted. While I know that in this case they have not fully converted I was rendered speechless when I heard my father-in-law and my brother-in-law say those words. And see this as a great step forward, especially because my brother-in-law is a lobbyist for the Republicans.

The full story is below the fold....

After reading Downwithtyranny's diary I Want My Money Back: Chris Carney (PA-10) Betrays GLBT Rights and going through most of the comments section I was stunned to think about what this really means for the progressive/liberal movement.

Have we degenerated into the Democratic party from the past? Are we willing to eat our own because of a special issue? Does this play into the hands of the Republican party?

"Let me tell you a story about right and wrong.
The left hand and the right hand.
The left hand is hate. The right hand is love."

Radio Raheem, Do the Right Thing (1989)