Ernie Els Knows Golf and More

John Edwards continues to make the strongest case against Clinton of any candidate in the field. Time and again last night, Edwards one-upped Obama's hits on Clinton by using his courtroom skills to deliver devastating one-liners about the New York Senator and her record. On Iran: "Are we going to hear 'If only I knew then what I know now,'" Edwards asked. On electability: "[Republicans] may actually want to run against you." On change: "If people want the status quo, Senator Clinton is your candidate." Was Edwards too angry? Too confrontational? Maybe. But, the anti-Clinton crowd wants someone to stand up strongly against her. Edwards showed he was willing to do that last night.

Anti Hillary Crowd?  That would include say...EVERYBODY.

Fernandez will take over from her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, on December 10 after taking more than 40 percent of the vote on Sunday to become Argentina's first elected woman leader.

The vote was largely a referendum on Kirchner's hotness and rightly so.

Thinking that heavy artilleray was necessary due to serious gay homophobic E D issues, damnjan tried the trifacta, his gay partner rejected him (duh) and did not go to the hospital after 4 hours and exploded.  Good riddance jackass.

A man takes his wife to the stock show. They start heading down the alley
that had the bulls. They come up to the first bull and his sign stated:
"This bull mated 50 times last year." The wife turns to her husband and
says, "He mated 50 times in a year, you could learn from him."

They proceed to the next bull and his sign stated: "This bull mated 65 times
last year." The wife turns to her husband and says, "This one mated 65 times
last year. That is over 5 times a month. You can learn from this one, also."



They proceeded to the last bull and his sign said: "This bull mated 365
times last year." The wife's mouth drops open and says, "WOW! He mated 365
times last year. That is ONCE A DAY!!! You could really learn from this
one."


The man turns to his wife and says, "Go up and see if it was 365 times with
the same cow."

Just days after “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling revealed that the popular professor character Albus Dumbledore was gay, President George W. Bush told the nation that he would seek a ban on fictitious gay weddings.

In a nationally televised address last night, Mr. Bush said that he devote the rest of his term in office to obtaining a constitutional amendment banning marriage between fictitious gay characters.

“In order to protect the sanctity of marriage in the real world, we must first protect the sanctity of marriage in fiction,” Mr. Bush said. “This is the most pressing goal of my Administration – even more important than bombing Iran.”

While the president’s address was for the most part consistent with his earlier statements on gay marriage, it was uncharacteristic in that it demonstrated an awareness of books.

And in attacking the Mr. Dumbledore’s right to wed, Mr. Bush may have raised the ire of one of the most militant constituencies in the U.S.: Harry Potter fans.

Jude Ralston, 34, one of over 5,000 Potter devotees who dressed as Dumbledore to protest the president’s speech outside the White House last night, said that Mr. Bush could be playing with fire: “Harry Potter fans take these things very seriously, and we don’t have anything else going on in our lives.”

As for Dumbledore’s gayness, Mr. Ralston said that he had overlooked obvious clues the first time he read the books: “I, like, totally missed that scene in the airport bathroom.”

With President Bush’s approval rating below thirty percent and none of the Republican presidential contenders stirring the public’s imagination, many Democrats have been worried that their historic role as losers and sad sacks might come to an abrupt end in 2008, a fear Mr. Dean attempted to quell today.

“Folks, let’s not forget, we’re Democrats,” Mr. Dean said. “If there’s a way to lose, we will find it.”

Carol Foyler, a longtime Democrat from Bethesda, Maryland who attended the summit, said that she had been worried that the Democrats might somehow pull out a victory in 2008, but added, “Just knowing that Howard Dean is in charge makes me feel much more confident about losing.”

A Preacher was explaining that he must move on to a larger congregation that will pay him more. There is a hush within the congregation. No one wants him to leave.
Joe Smith, who owns several car dealerships in the City stands up and proclaims, 'If the Preacher stays, I will provide him with a new Cadillac every year and his wife with a Honda mini-van to transport their children!'
The congregation sighs in relief and applauds.
Sam Brown, a successful entrepreneur and investor, stands and says 'If the Preacher will stay on here, I'll personally double his salary and also establish a foundation to guarantee the college education of all his children!'
More sighs and loud applause.
Sadie Jones, age 88, stands and announces with a smile, 'If the Preacher stays, I will give him sex!'
There is total silence.
The Preacher, blushing, asks her 'Mrs. Jones, whatever possessed you to say that?'
Sadie's 90 year old husband Jake is now trying to hide, holding his forehead with the palm of his hand and shaking his head from side to side, while his wife replies 'Well, I just asked my husband how we could help and he said 'Screw the Preacher!'

WHEN Senator Hillary Clinton appeared on Capitol Hill displaying a hint of cleavage, she sparked off a media furore about women in power, the way they dress and the role of femininity in American politics.

There has been no such fuss over the presidential campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, whose enthusiasm for mascara and designer handbags has played no small part in her seemingly effortless stroll towards victory in next Sunday’s elections in Argentina.

Like Clinton, Kirchner, 54, is the politically accomplished wife of a president with her own designs on the presidency. She is a Peronist senator from Buenos Aires province; her husband is Nestor Kirchner, the architect of Argentina’s economic revival, whose decision to stand down so that his wife can succeed him opens the door to a decade or more of family rule.

But unlike Clinton, the woman to whom most Argentinians refer simply as Cristina has deployed her glamour and sexuality as potent weapons on her way to a goal that not even the legendary Eva Peron was able to achieve.

With recent polls showing her up to 30 points clear of her nearest rivals, Kirchner seems certain to become the first woman elected to the Casa Rosada, the pink-walled presidential palace in Buenos Aires. (Isabel Peron, Evita’s successor as wife to Juan Peron, the former president, was appointed president when her husband died.)

CHECK OUT THE HOTTIE'S WEBSITE

The United States and other nations will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons, says Dick Cheney (so it must be true).  “Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions,” Cheney said in a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Studies.  “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,” President Bush said.

ARE THESE JOKERS CRAZY?

CAN YOU COME UP WITH A BETTER EXPLANATION FOR THIS?

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have divorced after 11 years of marriage, dealing a severe personal blow to the French leader just six months after he was elected to power.

Ending months of spiraling speculation about a deep marital rift, Sarkozy's spokesman issued a terse statement saying the pair were separating by mutual consent and would not discuss the issue any further. He later confirmed they were divorced.

"THIS LITTLE PRICK IS JUST TOO DAMN SHORT - SHOW ME YOUR DRIVER ERNIE"

Plagiarized from:

The Associated Press
Thursday, October 18, 2007; 7:18 PM

NEW YORK -- After all he had accomplished _ four World Series titles, 12 straight years in the playoffs, almost certain entry into the Hall of Fame _ and after all the indignities, this was one Joe Torre wasn't going to stand for.

He wasn't going to take a pay cut from the New York Yankees, no matter that he still would have been the highest-paid manager in baseball, and he certainly wasn't going to prove himself all over again.

Other teams are lining up to offer Torre jobs.  "My main goal is to manage a club who will knock that asshole's team out of the playoffs every year."

Another Liberal Noose-ance
by Ann Coulter (more by this author)
Posted 10/17/2007 ET
Updated 10/17/2007 ET

Liberals are so invigorated by the story about a noose being found on an obscure Columbia University professor's door that now nooses are popping up all over New York City. Liberals love to make believe the Night Riders are constantly at their doors.

I'll be shocked by a noose appearing on a college campus the day an actual racist does it.

Could Columbia at least produce one student or professor who supports racism before holding another "rally against racism"? Every concrete example of the racism allegedly sweeping the nation's campuses keeps turning out to be a fraud. Far from "institutional racism," there is "institutional racial hoaxism" run amok in this country. Will anyone rally against that?

Out of legions, here are just a few hoax hate crimes on college campuses.

-- In 1997, at Duke University, a black doll was found hanging by a noose from a tree at the precise spot where the Black Student Alliance was to be holding a rally against racism. Two black students later admitted they were the culprits and were immediately praised for bringing attention to the problem of racism on campus. Indeed, four years later the president of Duke gave a baccalaureate address nostalgically describing the hoax as a "protest" against racism. Next stop: the Nobel Peace Prize.

-- In 2003, vile racial epithets were scrawled on the dorm room doors at Ole Miss, producing mass protests and a "Say No to Racism" march. And then it turned out the graffiti had been written by black students, against whom no charges were brought. A "Say Yes to Racism" rally at Ole Miss was later canceled due to lack of interest.

-- In 2005, obscenity-laced racist and anti-Semitic messages appeared on dormitory walls at the College of Wooster in Ohio. The fliers were instantly blamed on "typical white males," even though all the letter I's in the epithets were dotted with little hearts. Breadcrumbs left by the culprits included the message "Vote Goldwater" among the obscenities. The matter was dropped and flushed down the memory hole when the perpetrators turned out to be a group of leftist students led by a black studies major.

-- Just this year, anti-Muslim fliers were put out on the George Washington University campus -- by leftists, including a member of "Iraq Veterans Against War." When it was thought the leaflets were from the conservative group Young Americans For Freedom, the dean called for the expulsion of the culprits and the university demanded that YAF officers sign a statement disavowing "hate speech." But when it turned out leftists had distributed the fliers, the matter was dropped faster than Larry Craig was dropped from Mitt Romney's campaign.

The one real example of racism on a college campus in recent memory was perpetrated against white men of the Duke lacrosse team. As that injustice was being perpetrated, gender and ethnic professors at Duke kept droning on about the "racism and sexism" students "live with every day" -- as the professors put it in an open letter that falsely presumed the players were guilty of rape. We don't expect a rally against the prejudiced professors, but an apology might be nice.

Playing the game of He Who Is Offended First Wins, Americans seek status not by claiming to be rich or of royal lineage, but by portraying themselves as victims. In one recent hoax hate crime, a white woman professor at Claremont McKenna College said her car had been vandalized with racist and anti-Semitic graffiti, with the words "Shut Up!" spray-painted on the hood of her car.

She was not black or Jewish, but had recently converted to Judaism and spoke out against racism. So she was a victim! After the vandalism of her car, she promptly became Queen for a Day. Far from "silenced," this anonymous mountebank was given a national microphone to bore us with her race-gender-culture theories. The campus was shut down for a day for anti-racism rallies in the charlatan's honor. Then eyewitnesses identified her as the one who had spray-painted her own car, and the pity party was over.

These liberal racism-hunters are like dirty old men who spend their days poring through pornography in order to better denounce it -- but enough about the Warren court.

Assuming against all reason and experience that the Columbia noose is not another hoax by a high-status victim, how is it that a pimply adolescent can cause such tumult in liberal New York City?

Liberals claim to believe the Klan has established a beachhead at Columbia University, Bill O'Reilly is head of the Manhattan branch, Rush Limbaugh despises the troops, I'm planning a pogrom from the heart of Manhattan, and George Bush is establishing fascism in America.

Some anonymous liberal hag on Air America Radio, which no one knew was still on the air, fell down outside her Park Avenue apartment this week, and her liberal colleagues were claiming it was Kristallnacht.

If it rains after a liberal washes his car, they say it's a right-wing dirty trick.

Hammer that lying Hitlary Rudy.  If you can't watch this...set your tivo!!!

TONIGHT: RUDY UNLOADS ON HILLARY: 'WHAT IS HER EXPERIENCE?'
Tue Oct 16 2007 16:57:53 ET

Excerpt from Mayor Giuliani's interview that airs tonight on FOXNEWS's Hannity & Colmes at 9PM ET:

R. GIULIANI: "Honestly, in most respects, I don't know Hillary's experience. She's never run a city, she's never run a state. She's never run a business. She has never met a payroll. She has never been responsible for the safety and security of millions of people, much less even hundreds of people.

"So I'm trying to figure out where the experience is here. It would seem to me that in a time of difficult problems and war we don't want on the job training for an executive. The reality is that these areas in which - maybe there are some areas in which she has experience but the areas of having the responsibility of the safety and security of millions of people on your shoulders is not something Hillary has ever had any experience with."

LOOK FORWARD TO MORE OF IT EVERY YEAR

IF HITLARY IS ELECTED

Hillary Clinton would raise taxes if she is elected president. Sharply. As her candidacy gains momentum and she closes in on the Democratic nomination, it would be well to review the record and underscore the tax increases she would be likely to enact.

As always, Hillary speaks in code. So here's the code book. She says that she will "noy renew President Bush's tax cuts for top earners when they expire." Most people assume that this pledge means that she will raise the top bracket (for those earning more than $200,000 a year) on income taxes from the 35 percent to which Bush cut it, to the 39.6 percent to which her husband raised it in 1993. But, in reality, it means a whole lot more.

It also likely means increasing the tax on capital gains from the current 15 percent to at least 20 percent and probably to the 30 percent level backed by most liberals. Some even believe she may eliminate capital gains taxation entirely and tax it at the same rate as ordinary income.

She certainly would repeal Bush's tax cut halving the tax rate on dividends and would raise it from its current 15 percent to 30 percent. She would also most likely end the planned elimination of the estate tax and probably reduce the size of estates subject to the tax.

But that is far from all. She has specifically refused to rule out a big increase in Social Security (FICA) taxes. This levy is currently enforced on the first $97,000 of income. Hillary would probably follow the lead of Democratic liberals and either raise the limit by "at least doubling it " or eliminating it altogether. A self-employed American making $250,000 a year currently pays $12,125 in FICA taxes (12.5 percent x $97,000). If the threshold were eliminated, his FICA tax would jump to $31,250! Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), both close Hillary allies (it was Rangel who first suggested she run for Senate in New York), are paving the way by their proposed tax increases. The Schumer-Rangel bill was first, superficially, an attempt to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax ( AMT.) Each year, inflation threatens to expand to cover more and more middle class families and replace it with a 35 percent tax on all "carried interest" earnings of hedge funds and other venture capital partnerships.

Stunning Reversal for Former Veep

Just days after former Vice President Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on global warming, the United States Supreme Court handed Mr. Gore a stunning reversal, stripping him of his Nobel and awarding it to President George W. Bush instead.

For Mr. Gore, who basked in the adulation of the Nobel committee and the world, the high court’s decision to give his prize to President Bush was a cruel twist of fate, to say the least.

But in a 5-4 decision, the justices made it clear that they had taken the unprecedented step of stripping Mr. Gore of his Nobel because President Bush deserved it more.

“It is true that Al Gore has done a lot of talking about global warming,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority. “But President Bush has actually helped create global warming.”

Even as Mr. Gore was being stripped of his Nobel, he received strong words of support from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said that the former vice president’s Nobel win “shows that he is devoting his life to the right thing and should definitely stay the course.”

In an interview with reporters in Iowa, Sen. Clinton said that “Al Gore should remain dedicated to the cause of global climate change, at least through November of 2008.”

Sen. Clinton suggested that Mr. Gore could further research the source of global warming by immediately boarding a rocket ship to the sun.

As a Texan is walking through his field, he sees a man drinking water from a stock tank with one of his hands.

The Texan shouts,"Hey, don't drink that water......it has cow shit in it."

The Man shouts back, "Soy mexicano, yo no entiendo inglés. Hábleme español." (I'm Mexican, I don't speak English. speak Spanish to me)

The Texan shouts back, "Utilice ambas manos, usted conseguirá más para beber."  (Use both hands, you'll get more to drink)

For the past year, Al Gore has gone about his considerable business without showing much interest in running for President. While picking up an Oscar and an Emmy, publishing a very smart book and playing host at a global concert for the planet, he's never done more than tease the idea. And yet all that time, the leaders of the Draft Gore movement have been clinging to a single fervid dream: that Gore would win the Nobel Peace Prize and use it to catapult himself to an eleventh-hour bid for the presidency.

"IT MAY TAKE AWHILE BUT THAT FAT PIECE OF SHIT IS EITHER GOING TO SINK OR BE SHARKBAIT"

A new book reveals the deep division that developed between Vice President 

Al Gore and first lady Hillary Clinton during Bill Clinton’s years in the 

White House.  “For Love of Politics — Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White 

House Years” by Sally Bedell Smith claims that Hillary not only tried to 

usurp Al Gore’s role as vice president, she cost him the presidency in the 

2000 election by draining funds and resources away from his campaign in 

favor of her Senate bid. [Editor’s Note: Get Sally Bedell’s book 

“For Love of Politics — Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years” — 

Go here now. ]  The bitter feelings between Gore and 2008 presidential 

candidate Hillary are said to persist to this day, leading some 

observers to speculate that Gore could enter the 2008 race after all — 

a move that might prove a final payback to Hillary.  The rift between 

the then-new first lady and the vice president began to develop just days 

after Bill Clinton’s inauguration, when he appointed Hillary to head his 

healthcare task force, according to an excerpt, published in the November 

issue of Vanity Fair, from Smith’s book.  “The move took nearly all 

his top officials by surprise, including Al Gore,” she writes. “Bill 

had invested Gore with considerable responsibility, but his failure 

to confide in his vice president was a telling sign of the real pecking 

order.”  Before long, administration officials came to realize that 

Hillary would play a part in all of Bill’s decisions. “He would say, 

‘Hillary thinks this. What do you think?’ White House counsel Bernard 

Nussbaum told Smith.  Staff members began calling Hillary “the Supreme 

Court,” the final arbiter on many issues.  Gore, meanwhile, was being 

increasingly marginalized. White House insiders recalled meetings where 

Hillary urged Bill to discount Gore’s advice, telling him: “Bill, you 

are the president.”  Smith observed: “The Clintons resented the Gores 

because they were products of Washington’s prestigious private schools 

and its social network . . .  “Hillary always had an undercurrent of 

competition with Al Gore that burst into the open from time to time.”  

On Nov. 6, 1998, New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced 

that he would not run for a fifth term.  “The Moynihan seat had 

in fact been on the Clintons’ radar for months,” Smith discloses, 

and Hillary would eventually campaign for the seat while Gore 

campaigned to succeed Bill in the White House.  Even before the 

campaigns began, the “center of gravity” in the Clintons’ 

relationship had been shifting from Bill to Hillary.  Bill 

was a lame duck, crippled by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, 

and she was “the rising political star,” according to 

Smith’s book, which will officially be published on Oct. 23.  

“Hillary’s ascendancy had a significant impact on the 

presidential prospects of Al Gore, diverting attention 

and resources from his candidacy and adding to the growing 

tensions between the Gores and the Clintons over Bill’s 

involvement with Lewinsky,” Smith writes.  On the day he 

announced his candidacy for president, Gore said in a 

televised interview that he thought Bill Clinton’s behavior

 was “terribly wrong.” When Bill heard about the comment, he 

“erupted” in anger.  Bill was still a sitting president, in a 

position to give Gore’s campaign major boosts, but according 

to Smith, “in 1999 those resources were diverted from Gore to 

Hillary ‘in a big way,’ said one member of the Gore team. ‘The 

Clintons come first.’”  That year, Hillary’s office had 86 major 

speeches listed on the White House Web site — four times as many 

as those listed for her husband and Gore combined.  One dramatic 

example of the “contest” between Hillary and Gore came in 

September 1999 when the Federal Trade Commission was set to 

release a report on violence in the media.  “Under ordinary 

circumstances, a vice president running for the presidency 

would have first call on publicizing the report,” Smith notes. 

“But Hillary insisted she should handle the rollout.”  When 

the decision was made to have Gore and the Clintons make 

more or less simultaneous announcements, “this did not sit 

well” with Gore and his vice presidential running mate Joe 

Lieberman, and they decided to break the news on their own.  

Perhaps more significantly, Hillary was also competing with 

Gore for campaign contributions.  Bill and Hillary “raised millions 

for themselves, distracting attention from the presidential race, 

siphoning off Democratic money, and further angering the vice 

president and his team,” discloses Smith, a former New York Times 

reporter whose other works include books about the Kennedy White 

House and Princess Diana.  She tells that when a friend of Tipper 

Gore planned a fundraiser in Los Angeles, Hillary insisted on being 

invited — “then shocked the vice president’s supporters by soliciting 

donations for herself in front of Tipper.”  The result of the 

Gore-Hillary clash, according to Smith: “The colliding agendas 

of the president, first lady, and vice president were gifts to 

the Republicans.”  When Hillary easily won her Senate seat, 

rumors “almost immediately” started about a Hillary run for 

the White House in 2004 or 2008, Smith writes.  Gore, meanwhile, 

went down to a bitter defeat to George Bush after a legal wrangle 

over Florida votes that lasted 36 days.  After the outcome was 

determined, Gore and Bill Clinton met in the Oval Office on Dec. 21. 

“It was an unpleasant encounter, as Gore forthrightly blamed Bill’s 

scandals, while Bill rebuked Gore for failing to make the most of their 

successful record,” Smith reveals.  “Afterward, Bill told 

[presidential adviser] Sidney Blumenthal they they had parted after 

‘patching everything up,’ but in fact the mutual resentments among 

the Clintons and Gore persisted.”

had parted after ‘patching everything up,’ but in fact the mutual resentments among the Clintons and Gore persisted.”

A Japanese doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we

can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him out

looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor says, "That is nothing. We can take a lung out of one

person, put it in another, and have him out looking for work in four

weeks."

A British doctor says, "In my country medicine is so advanced that we

can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have

both of them out looking for work in two weeks"

The American doctor, not to be outdone, interjected, "You guys are way

behind. We are about to take a woman with no brains, send her to

Washington where she will become President, and then half the country

will be out looking for work."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS BURNS?

THE DNC (ACRONYM FOR DUNCE) HAS RETAINED

WEBSTER'S TO COME UP WITH A SYNONYM FOR JACKASS

TO IDENTIFY THE democrat PARTY AND FOOL THE

AMERICAN VOTER

After reading this, I think that I am getting a direct transfusion I don't want any banked blood.

It's been called the gift of life, but for many of the five million patients who receive blood transfusions every year, it can actually do more harm than good.  

It's a problem that doctors have been wrestling with for several years, as study after study shows a disturbing spike in heart disease and death in patients receiving transfusions. The trend affects almost every group of critically ill patients — from trauma sufferers in the ER to heart attack victims, patients with anemia and those undergoing chemotherapy. This increase in death and heart disease, doctors say, is unrelated to infectious blood-borne diseases or allergic reactions that often follow transfusions. "After you control for sickness and all sorts of things, patients who receive transfusions still have more heart attacks. It makes no sense," says Dr. Jonathan Stamler, a professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center.

Logically, and medically, patients who need transfusions — those with low blood counts — should benefit immediately from a transfusion of new oxygen-laden red blood cells. Yet many get sicker. Puzzled by the paradox, Stamler and his colleagues decided to look more closely at banked blood — to figure out whether it underwent certain changes that turned it from life-saving in the donor to potentially deadly in the bag.

Their finding, reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: nitric oxide (NO). A workhorse of the blood, the gas helps red blood cells ferry oxygen to tissues and props open tiny vessels to allow freer blood flow. It turns out that within hours of leaving the body, levels of nitric oxide in the blood begin to drop, until, by the time donated blood expires after 42 days, the gas is almost nonexistent. "The reality is that we are giving blood that cannot deliver oxygen properly," says Stamler, lead author of the study. "Many patients who are getting blood are being put at increased risk."

Previous trials have shown that heart disease patients, for example, who receive a blood transfusion to help restore oxygen to deprived tissues, have a 25% chance of having a heart attack and an 8% chance of dying within 30 days; similar patients who do not get transfused have an 8% chance of a cardiac event and a 3% chance of death. Stamler hypothesizes that without NO, red blood cells cannot drill their way into tiny blood vessels; rather, they pile up in narrow passageways, blocking blood flow instead of increasing it and hampering the heart.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 7, 2007; Page A07

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Long before the 2008 campaign began, Liz Belden thought she would support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). As a feminist, she believed it would be good for the country to finally elect a woman as president.

Today, she supports Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), impressed by his intellect and what she believes is his capacity to unite the country. "I want a woman president who is the right person. I'm not convinced this one is," Belden said. "My problem with her is, too many times I feel she says things for political expediency."

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As Belden spoke, others around the table in a coffee shop here nodded in agreement. Their reactions to the candidate who leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination nationally offered some insight into why Clinton is in a competitive race in Iowa, whose first-in-the-nation caucuses will begin the nominating contest next year.

Eight months ago, when Clinton made her first trip to Iowa as a candidate, The Washington Post -- with the help of Linn County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Robinson -- gathered 14 Iowa activists and county party leaders for a conversation about the New York senator and her rivals. At the time, all said they were uncommitted, but even then their coolness toward Clinton was evident.

On Friday night, 10 of the 14 returned for another 90 minutes of conversation about the Democratic race. Some remain undecided, but many more have settled on a candidate. None, however, has decided to support Clinton.

The members of this small group are in no way representative of likely caucus participants, and so their views should not be mistaken as a sign of who may win or lose the caucuses in January. The degree to which they are not representative of current polling in the state is apparent in that candidates such as Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) enjoy more support among them than does Clinton or former senator John Edwards (N.C.).

These are voters who rely less on cues from national polls than on personal observation and knowledge of the candidates to make their judgments. They are among the most privileged voters in the country in terms of access to candidates, having met and spoken to many of them personally and repeatedly.

Four members of the group said Friday that they have attended Clinton events; five said they have heard Edwards; six said they have gone to see Biden; and nine said they have turned out to see Obama.

Clinton has spent months systematically trying to improve her standing in the state, and her advisers believe she has made progress. But among these activists, judgments about her were often harsh.

"She's too polarizing," said Bev Hedgecoth, who said she is still undecided. "She's not going to draw any independents or Republicans" in the general election.

Hedgecoth's husband, Dale, who has been going door to door for Obama, was even more impassioned about the risk of losing the general election if Clinton is the nominee. "We have to win this one, guys, we have to win this one," he said, as if giving a pep talk to the others. "We can't get this wrong, or the Democratic Party will be in shambles for 30 years."

"She cannot bring the country together," said Kay Hale, who supports Dodd.

 

Roy Porterfield kept Clinton on his list until deciding to support Obama late last week. He said that he disagrees with those who say she is not likable and that he could enthusiastically support her if she became the nominee. But when Hale made her comment, he quickly chimed in: "I think she can be elected, but I'm concerned that she can't bring the country together."

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Lynda Waddington, who considered Clinton and found her to be warm and friendly during her first visit to the state in January, said she has ruled her out over a recent Senate vote that Waddington interpreted as giving President Bush authority to go after Iran. "That was the final straw," she said.

Bob and Ann Bromley support Biden but, as savvy caucus-goers, they know he might not meet the threshold to qualify for delegates. In that case, they are prepared to switch to Obama. Asked what advice he would offer Clinton as she campaigns in Iowa, Bob Bromley said: "She just has to become real."

Dona Howe said she is genuinely uncommitted, still trying to choose among Clinton, Edwards and Obama. She recalled saying in January that Clinton was "strong but not it" for her, and on Friday she still felt that way.

"If she is it, I won't have a problem. I'm not going to sigh and . . . have a problem," she said. "I think she's very capable. However, I cannot imagine that would be the person I would caucus for."

This group of 10 Democrats may speak only for themselves. If that is the case, Clinton need not worry unduly.

But with every vote in Iowa especially important, it is clear why her advisers say she has more work to do here.

Talk about your prototypical Mom from the fifties.  Can you picture Kevin Federline as Ward Cleaver?  Who will play Wally, the Beaver and Eddie Haskell in the movie?

Vick is going to pay big bucks for jury consultants to

tell his sleaze team of attorneys that an ideal jury

would consist of race card playing cats?

This interesting item crossed my desk.  How true.

 LETTER TO THE NAACP
This was written to the head of the NAACP in Atlanta regarding the Michael Vick affair. I love it when a white guy can gently, yet logically put things into perspective, in words that anyone can understand.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
An Open Letter To The Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP
Dear Dr. R L White, Head of the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP,
My name is Mike. I am 27, and I am neither a member of your organization nor a resident of Atlanta. Normally I wouldn't bother you, but then I came across this article, and it compelled me to write.
Since I am white, I am going to tread carefully, so as not to offend your gentle sensibilities. But, Dr. White, you are a dumb ass. Speaking for white people everywhere, let me fill you in on something. This case was not a race issue. It was about killing dogs. And if there is one thing people don't stand for, regardless of race, it's killing dogs.
You compared it to deer hunting. Again, Dr. White, you are a dumb ass. When was the last time a deer greeted you at the door when you got home from work? Or curled up next to you and gently nuzzled in to take a nap? Dogs are pets, you moron. They aren't meant to be killed for sport. The failure to make this distinction only makes you look more stupid. Sorry, I lost my temper there.
Here's the thing, Dr. White. The reason people were outraged by this was because he killed dogs. If Ben Roethlisberger or Brett Favre had done it, the reaction would have been the same, I guarantee you. The difference is, had Ben Roethlisberger or Brett Favre done this, you would not see white supporters rallying behind him, proclaiming he was innocent in face of mountains of damning evidence, supporting him regardless of the outcome.
Allow me to let you in on a secret about white people: when one of our own makes us look bad, we condemn him and disown him. I suggest you adopt a similar policy. If your group's mission is truly to advance "colored" people (your word, not mine), you'd disassociate from the idiots in your race. You can't go wrong, trust me.
Anyway, Dr. White, I don't want this to come off as racist, because it isn't.. Michael Vick is a despicable person who happens to be black. The sooner you realize that, the less of a dumb ass you'll look like.
Sincerely, Mike