Painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress found in Epstein's mansion

Crazy Harry

New Cartoon 11-27-2016

Relevant text and link:

"Donald Trump refused to say that he'd respect the results of this election. That's a direct threat to our democracy! " ~ Hillary Clinton 10/24/16

Hillary Clinton’s Team to Join Wisconsin Recount Pushed by Jill Stein

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/us/politics/clinton-camp-will-join-push-for-wisconsin-ballot-recount.html?_r=0

Who is Bradley Manning, really?

Who is Bradley Manning and what do you know about him? If all you hear is the main stream media, probably not very much.

Earlier this week, the soldier accused of leaking thousands of confidential documents to WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, was handed an additional 22 charges as part of his ongoing court martial process. The 23-year-old, who has been in solitary confinement for more than seven months, stands accused of computer fraud, theft of public records and willfully communicating classified information to a person not entitled to receive it. He now also finds himself faced with a rare charge known as “aiding the enemy” – a capital offence for which he could face the death penalty.

Lots of stories this past week on blogs and alternative websites about him being stripped naked in his cell and worse (solitary for months, etc).

Apparently, guards are forcing Bradley Manning to strip in his cell—a humiliation tactic guards use in Guantanamo Bay. A spokesman for the Marines referred to this as, “standard operating procedure.”

Could the President who stopped torture and wanted Gitmo closed be so bold as to move it here? Can’t be!

Given these circumstances, the decision to strip PFC Manning of his clothing every night for an indefinite period of time is clearly punitive in nature. There is no mental health justification for the decision. There is no basis in logic for this decision. PFC Manning is under 24 hour surveillance, with guards never being more than a few feet away from his cell. PFC Manning is permitted to have his underwear and clothing during the day, with no apparent concern that he will harm himself during this time period. Moreover, if Brig officials were genuinely concerned about PFC Manning using either his underwear or flip-flops to harm himself (despite the recommendation of the Brig’s psychiatrist) they could undoubtedly provide him with clothing that would not, in their view, present a risk of self-harm.

Is it possible that Manning doesn’t exist? The CIA released the docs to Wikileaks to embarrass Hillary, certain governments, etc, and Manning is a cover story. Where are the interviews with family and friends? And how come no one has asked that such a low level soldier could get such easy access to just these particular materials? If that's true, how come this doesn't happen all the time - or maybe it has, and they're just gluing it all on this Manning construct?

Just tossing that out there. Happy Monday, commuters.

Internet is Awesome

Here are the links to the articles: Clinton calls for global recognition of internet freedom http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/15/clinton.internet/

Wikileaks row intensified as US makes "privacy" move against Twitter (image link) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/15/wikileaks-row-us-privacy-twitter

Thanks Internet - it's good to see that someone else is paying attention.

Hypocrite Hillary

The Blaspheme's Hypocrite of the Week is Hillary Clinton.

She went and gave a speech about setting up a fund to help internet rebellions, (as long as they're not domestic Tea Party types, of course) The U.S. will help “people in oppressive Internet environments get around filters, stay one step ahead of the censors, the hackers, and the thugs who beat them up or imprison them for what they say online,” she said yesterday.

Clinton announced the creation of a State Department office for Cyber Issues that will be headed by Christopher Painter, an official on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council and former federal prosecutor specializing in computer crime.

American government's leadership in the cause of online freedom seems a tad hampered by things like their handling of the Wikileaks situation and even the mere whisper of Congress implementing an Internet kill switch in the US.

Also, if American companies sell firewalls and tough crackdown software to dictators - and the tax dollars on the sale goes to the people being oppressed to fight that cyber oppression that we sold them - does that seem a tad bit off the charts of stupidity? Or is it merely the most convoluted way to spur industry, the way only an American can understand?

Healthcare Setback

I gotten around to mentioning that the first major wound has been administered to the ObamaCare legislation - but it's kind of interesting that someone agreed with me about the Commerce Clause in the Constitution - but also because they used it on the Republican provision.

Federal judge Henry Hudson declared in his 42-page opinion that the law’s requirement for most Americans to obtain health insurance was unconstitutional:

“Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal circuit court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market.”

To simplify this argument - Imagine Congress passed a law that required EVERY American to buy a gun. Soak that in for a moment.

Hudson also wrote that allowing Congress to exercise such authority “would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers.”

Full repeal by the Republicans would be a long, difficult fight - and no doubt, they're not up for that kind of challenge. This ruling gives them a boost of wind to that sail, should they accept the challenge. The individual mandate was the lynchpin upon which the entire health care law stood. It's what Hillary and John McCain campaigned on - and what the Insurance Companies demanded, and Obama caved into agreeing upon.

A significant portion of the funding was to come through the fines that were to be collected from those who fail to purchase insurance - enforced by the IRS. The rational behind requiring insurance companies to accept those with pre-existing conditions was predicated upon a requirement that all people are required to be insured, otherwise people will simply sign up for insurance once they get sick -- which I happen to believe as well. The old, I'll just call Allstate right after I rear-end the school bus argument.

So if the foundation of this legislation was built on a swamp - how soon 'til this whole thing just rots away or falls in on itself? How much collateral damage will be done first before the dust settles?

Click here to read Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's analysis.

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

Finish line. We made it through another week. I got my computer back from the shop, and I was still able to maintain Blasphemes somehow. Mr. Obama was accused of not communicating with his base...
Mr. Goodwrench got his walking papers this week.
Nancy really does have a screw loose... and the Democrats who are agreeing to keep her as their leader must be insane. Even Representative Heath Shuler said that his fellow Democrats should learn from his failed N.F.L. career and replace their quarterback, Nancy Pelosi. Question there is, is Nancy the Offensive Coordinator, or the QB? Either way, it would have been a better move to marginalize her.
But look on the bright side of QE2... everything is half off! I'm sure that's why the Chinese are getting more than a bit pissed off for extending the credit of their best customer. Unfortunately, that customer is Norm Peterson.
TSA is getting out of hand... no, they're getting a little too handy - in the grab hands... er - okay, I'll admit I'm missing the funny headline here, but there's really nothing funny about what's been going on at the airports lately. There's a story of a TSA agent practically molesting a child at the airport the other day.
And if you thought that the only winners last Tuesday were the Republicans, you may want to check on what Hillary's up to. There's now open talk of a primary battle.
Oh, and Mr. Bush came back in the news for a week. His feud with Kanye is finally over... And he wrote a book. I think it really should be placed in the fiction category.
Well, that's this week, let's see if we can make it to the next? See you there.

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

Here's the end of the week round up...
First, NPR - meet FOX. What did everyone expect to have happen?
The bed bug craze is getting kind of nuts... which is hilarious, until you see one.
Foreclosures continue to be about as controversial as the loans themselves.
Taliban 'leadership' are sitting down to 'talk'. Who the hell knows what that means?
Obama's thrown out Hope and Change and is changing lanes to spew Fear. I've been saying since he picked Biden as his Veep he was going to get his ass handed back to him in 2010.
Puppet masters...
Corporate influence in this campaign is a little more, er -transparent, perhaps - obvious this cycle?
And when Mr. Obama lashed out upon the Chamber of Commerce for spending against him- it rang a just a tad hollow and hypocritical. It was definitely not presidential.
Well gang, we made it through another week. Hope to see you again next week!

Bad To Worse?

Word on Capitol Hill is that Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee with a well-worn passport and the hero of Vietnam, is being discussed as a replacement to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who’s been hinting of an exit before the end of President Obama’s first term. Kerry, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has acted as an emissary for Obama. Should he leave, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, in a bitter reelection fight, would be in line to chair the committee. If he loses, it might fall to New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, whose goal is the fall of Cuba’s Castro regime. Even though the Fall of Cuba is not a policy Obama seems to back.

Is Hillary leaving because she has something better to do?

The only choice worse than Kerry would be Joe Biden.

"Evangelist" and "Disinformation"

When asked why 18% of Americans believe President Obama is Muslim ...

"... is because we have people who are supposed to be responsible public leaders, like Franklin Graham, who are spreading what seems to me like a sort of disinformation campaign... What Franklin Graham should say: 'Barack Obama says he's a Christian, he's a Christian, end of story."

Prothero also pointed out that Obama prayed with Franklin and his father, America's most famous living evangelist, Rev. Billy Graham, in May but Franklin still repeatedly used the "if" word to answer King's questions Thursday on whether Obama has accepted Christ.

Prothero said:

"Franklin Graham doesn't seem to be interested in focusing on preaching the gospel of -- of Jesus. He wants to be spreading misinformation about the religion of Islam.

... Why are we listening to Franklin Graham?"

Why indeed?

Besides -- and let me be clear -- ALL THIS 'OBAMA IS A MUSLIM' CAME FROM HILLARY CLINTON, not the Republicans! (Link)

To all that is good about scientific theory, we sure have a short attention span. All of this 'Secret Muslim crap came out of Hillary Clinton's Iowa campaign headquarters. Remember when she FIRED her people for doing it, but wouldn't come out and say that Obama wasn't a Muslim? In fact, she said the exact thing this creep Graham was saying. Here's the transcript from 60 Minutes:

CLINTON: Of course not. I mean, that's--you know, there is not basis for that. You know, I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn't any reason to doubt that.

KROFT: And you said you'd take Senator Obama at his word that he's not a Muslim.

CLINTON: Right. Right.

KROFT: You don't believe that he's a Muslim or implying? Right.

CLINTON: No. No. Why would I? No, there is nothing to base that on, as far as I know.

KROFT: It's just scurrilous --

CLINTON: Look, I have been the target of so many ridiculous rumors. I have a great deal of sympathy for anybody who gets, you know, smeared with the kind of rumors that go on all the time. [Emphasis added]

Doesn't anyone remember that silly headdress Obama was in when he visited Kenya? They even made a New York Times cover with him on it? That was only two years ago, people?!

Anyhow, it doesn't matter anyway. What does matter is that The USA Today has a section called Faith & Reason...

How does THAT work? Do they also have a Fairy Tales & Logic section in their comic book they call news?

You UnAmerican Nazi!

Now it is Un-American to disagree with the Government

Wait, just six months ago opposing the President was Patriotic? I'm confused - Oh wait, that's because George Bush was our President.

"I'm sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we're Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration."
— Hillary Clinton

Hillary said ANY Administration, right?

But if you disagree with Nancy Pelosi you are UN-AMERICAN!

Man, the shifting at the hog trough didn't take long, did it?

But wait, there's more! Mrs. Pelosi just couldn't leave it alone. Since her mouth was already open more fell out.

“I think they’re AstroTurf. You be the judge. They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care.”

Who carries swastikas? Nazis do. Pelosi did not complain that the protesters were comparing Obama's Health Care Plan to Nazism; she insinuated that the protesters are the Nazis.

Can we get something straight here, please - all together - for once? Let's all agree that if you use Hitler or Nazi in a sentence in a debate - you're automatically disqualified from all further discussion.

First, for the Speaker of the House of Representatives is comparing the people of her country to Nazis - and not bothering to understand what that implication means - is deplorable.

It is one thing for a citizen to say vile things about an elected official, they're our employees after all. It's something else for an elected official to say vile things about a citizen. It seems like a double standard - but guess what, it isn't.

But there's something else that's troubling me. I wish we could all come to terms with what the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was. It was a combination or consortium of different political views - left and right - and created a form of government that was neither capitalist nor communist. This was the 'Third Way'.

Both fascism and Nazism rejected ideologies like democracy, liberalism and Marxism, but also conservatism and also corporatism when it suited them. But Italian and Spanish fascists were different than the Germans. So it's just easier to say Nationalists. The State was what mattered most.

The Nazi Party was sculpted by Hitler's main views formulated while he was in prison. He wrote these ideas in his book, Mein Kampf. The three main points were the conception of history as a race struggle influenced by Social Darwinism; antisemitism; and the idea that Germany needed to acquire land from Russia. All terrible ideas, but since the original party was all over the place, Hitler was able to mold it to his views- he was an artist after all. Once in power, he purged a whole bunch of folks in his own party who didn't agree with him.

I'm not going to compare the Democrats to the Nazis - but there are a lot more similarities to the current power mad Democrats to the brown shirts right now than those 'fascist Conservatives.'

Look at their record: intolerant of the opposition - not just the other party, but the people who are attempting to exercise their first amendment rights in public town halls. Calls from the White House for citizens to report any decenters. Their rhetoric... Speaker of the House calling citizens Nazis, O Symbols and redesigned government seals, and idol worship... Do you see a pattern emerging? What I'm getting at is that the Democrats better check that casual throwing of the word 'Nazi' around, okay?

I don't know - maybe it's the opposite? Maybe there are real people finally standing up to this Rahming of Change down people's throats? Or maybe the Speaker is right - there are AstroTurfed (manufactured 'grass roots' - get it?) actors being brought in by the insurance companies to make headlines at these 'Town-Halls' for Congressmen back home?

Or, let's go full retard and say that the folks in these meetings are actually all Obama supporters pretending to be against the Healthcare plan - and they're trying to make the people who are against this thing look really, really bad to everyone else... well that's crazy, isn't it? Sounds like something the Nazis would try... (Reichstag fire anyone?) Kind of like how I think the 'birther' movement isn't from the right side fringe at all.... ah, but that's full retard.

All I know is that Mrs. Pelosi should be purged by Obama after she gives a very heartfelt apology to my un-American ass.

Bill Clinton picks up two Asian chicks

Two U.S. Journalists in N. Korea Are Said to Be Pardoned

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, pardoned two jailed American journalists, the official KCNA news agency has reported, according to Reuters. The report came after former President Bill Clinton met with the reclusive and ailing Mr. Kim in Pyonyang on Tuesday.

Mr. Kim granted "a special pardon," KCNA said in a statement.

My guess is that Clinton showing up to make it look like the US was bowing to the great impressive leader of Kim Jong il's will made enough of a propaganda win for Kimmy to give over the girls that he was holding. Maybe he just brought a bag of Big Macs for the North Korean leadership.

Hey wait, isn't Hillary the Secretary of State? And last I checked, freeing American political hostages was Jessie Jackson's job?

Obama's First Month

Well, look at that. It's almost been a month whole month without George. Looks like it's time...

Blasphemes Presents:
Obama's First Month:
A Recap

Rod Blagojevich's corrupt attempts to pawn Obama's Senate seat [so far] hasn't directly involved Obama. But they did remind everyone that Obama and his chief of staff, ex-ballerina and ex-Arby's employee Rahm Emanuel, are Chicago Machine politicians.

Bill Richardson withdrew from consideration for the job of Commerce Secretary after a financial scandal in New Mexico erupted. One would have though this might have come up somewhere between the start of his own campaign for President and Obama's vetting process?

Then, speechwriter Jon Favreau groped a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton, [tell me that wasn't money] raising questions about taking photographs of important people at house parties (Michael Phelps? Hey, dumb ass - I'm looking right at you... what'r you stoned!?)

Then it turned out he was dating Ali Campoverdi, a Maxim model turned White House assistant. Maybe she liked his technique?

And speaking of Hillary... she's our new Secretary of State! That's proof she really DID have enough votes to give Obama that DNC Convention battle in Denver. It was probably a better idea to send her out of town for four years than to make her Veep. I'm sure The Clinton Foundation's accountant will be happy.

The Attorney General Eric Holder turned out to be the one who gave the nod for Bill Clinton's pardon to financier Marc Rich. And Holder's law firm represents seventeen Gitmo Terrorists... which is now closed. No, it's just a coincidence.

Then we found out that Obama's choice to run the IRS is a tax cheat. Tim Geithner didn't pay his taxes. They appointed him Treasury Secretary anyway. Well, who better to catch the cheats than a cheat himself, right?

On the bright side, they let Obama's Geithner to get in, but he was only allowed one tax cheat out of three. His choice for would-have-been "performance czar" Nancy Killefer withdrew her name over a $946.69 tax lien for employment taxes she didn't pay for her household help. No one asked if "the Help" had a green card.

Then it was revealed that poor old Tom Daschle, who was up for Secretary of Health and Human Services had hadn't paid nearly $140,000 for a car and driver a lobbyist had lent him after he left office.

The reason Daschle and Killefer really had to go? They both had tax problems; meaning they didn't have a problem not paying them. More importantly, they briefly pulled the carefully constructed Change curtain open... just for a second... and it accidentally reminded us, the unwashed public, exactly how the elite Washington insiders actually run the Circus. No one wants to see the mirrors and wires of hypocrisy.

Oh, and back to the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Rahm's Capitol Hill basement apartment (rented to him by Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro and pollster Stanley Greenberg) turned out to be an illegal rental unit. Honestly, Rahm? You're from Chicago - if you're going to break the law - it's supposed to pay off way better than that! Also, keep an eye on Rahm to be heavily mentioned and or invited to participate in the Rod Blagojevich criminal trial.

Obama closed down Gitmo - even though there's no plan on what to do with these people. But as long as their Constitutional rights aren't violated, we'll all feel better about it, right? What do you mean they don't have Constitutional rights? They're American citizens, aren't they?!

Obama put caps in White House salaries, and yelled at CEO's who gave themselves bonuses for asking - and then getting - no-strings-attached handouts. Then he made a rule that said "no lobbyists," but hired 17 of them, including Wil Lynn.

Oh, and the other big news was that Obama bought everyone a pony. Well, a pony as long as you're a Congressional Democrat. Yes, Obama's stimulus barrel passed, or as I like to call it the 2010 Congressional Incumbent Strategy Package. Bonus, he got it done without the help of any of those pesky corrupt Republicans. How are we going to pay for it? How exactly does this create jobs independent of government spending? And doesn't that America First clause violate about 130 trade treaties? Hey, don't ask questions or they'll send you to Gitm- well, you won't get your $40 coupon to switch to digital television this week- next week- June 15th. July 18th... gate 19, gate 20.

And to think, there was a time when late-night comedians fretted that there wasn't anything funny about the Obama Administration? It's not even been a FULL month!

Happy Happy Hypocrisy

Hillary Clinton gets a cake walk coronation from the same US Senate that refused to allow Rod "Pay-for-Play" Blagojevich's Senator in the door.

There was hardly a hickup for Hillary in her confirmation. Almost nary a question was raised about the glaring National Security kind of questions of how the Clinton conflict of interests to their country, and how foreign favor may be bought from the new Obama Administration - or dare I say - just bypass the boss and straight into Clinton's personal interest [her purse].

How are the Clinton's shake-downs of foreign 'investors' ANY different than what Blagojevich was impeached for?

Last month, Bill disclosed the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation. It was supposed to be a positive step toward the transparency that Mr. Obama insisted on before selecting Mrs. Clinton. But it also reinforced concerns about potential conflicts of interest ahead.

The roster of donors to Mr. Clinton’s presidential library and global foundation enterprises include million-dollar-plus contributions from governments in the Middle East, tycoons from India, Nigeria, Ukraine and Canada, and international figures with interests in the policies Mrs. Clinton will be helping to write and carry out.

But dare me to ask again: How's that different than from what Blago just got impeached for?

In the same breath, Obama's choice to run the IRS 'accidentally' never paid any taxes and had an illegal alien working for him. The tax 'error' was a 'simple' mistake that he was audited for, told to pay, and then still didn't. I can understand the illegal housekeeper, ask Zoe Baird how that all worked out for her. But not paying taxes? And after getting caught, has been given the "aw shucks" treatment. A simple mistake! Right. If you dare not file every month or quarterly, you will be fined, drawn and quartered and sure as hell wouldn't be working as the Treasury Secretary, but Timothy Geithner gets a free pass. Hardly a second glance. Maybe the thinking is that since he's already good at finding the loopholes, he'll be able to catch all those nasty tax dodgers out there.

Change. It's what's for dinner.

Stupid Racist Illigitimatacy

Remember when George Bush stole the election?
Remember how unqualified Sarah Palin was?
Remember how racist all the Republicans are?
Remember how stupid those idiot Republicans were?

Stolen Election

In Minnesotta - It looks as though unfunny, failed sitcom star, failed talk radio, carpetbagger Al Franken has sued his way into getting his Senate seat. Here's the story link. From what I understand he's had absentee ballots thrown out? I don't care, but it looks like exactly like Florida to me.

Then there's Unqualified Caroline Kennedy....

The unelected Gov of NY is going to place someone with less experience than a PTA mom into the Senate. A PTA mom actually has a voting record. Caroline is qualified because her maiden name was Kennedy.... and she has a purse. Let's back up a second review the timeline.

Ted Kennedy endorsed Obama - to defeat Hillary.
Obama has already made it clear that he thinks Caroline Kennedy would be a great choice for Hillary's Senate seat.
Caroline hits the campaign trail with Obama, and even worked on the Vice-Presidential search that eventually settled on Joe Biden.

Obama floats the idea of Hillary as Secretary of State.
Ted Kennedy helps her to decide by warning that staying in the Senate won't be too much fun when she'll be squeezed off center stage on her beloved issue of health reform.

Hillary gets off her seat and who better to fill it than Ted's beloved niece, who'd already been co-chairwoman of the Obama transition committee?!

Who cares if she's qualified or not? Certainly not those people who were screaming about Sarah Palin three months ago.
(Thanks for the help on the Caroline stuff, DD2 )

Who's Racist?

In Illinois, Gov. Blag-o-stuff went and appointed a Senator - an appointment that is being blocked by Harry Reid because of "his qualifications."
Roland Burris, the man picked by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to represent the state in the Senate. Harry Reid is also on record for telling Blago that two white women were okay, but the three black candidates were not acceptable. Well let me ask you, you racist - what makes you qualified to be in the Senate? How about Chris Dodd?

But since Blagojevich has not been indicted [yet], has not been impeached [yet], and has not stepped down [yet], he is still [as of this writing] the Governor. All legal precedents show his appointment is legal, even though it is distasteful. Burris does meet the Age, Citizenship, and Residency requirements as laid out in the State and Federal Constitutions. Unless there is anything illegal in his past, or it is shown that Burris "Paid to Play," for the chair, the only option the Democrats have, is to seat him, and then try to expel him from the Senate, which - come on - won't be easy.

They don't have to let him on any Committees. Which is about the only thing Harry Reid can actually do... except keep opening his stupid racist mouth.

Remember when Franken stole the election?
Remember how unqualified Caroline Kennedy was?
Remember how racist the Democrats are?

You know how stupid WE ARE for letting this cycle continue without a hickup?

Tell me that wasn't money

Incoming Obama administration director of speechwriting Jon Favreau (L) and a friend pose with a cardboard cutout of incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a party. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

Jon, Quit groping Hillary and get to work on Iron Man 2, okay? She's a bit stiff anyway.

PS: Dump your Facebook page, it might get you into trouble with the President-Elect.
PS2: Dump your douche bag friend who took this picture, then jeopardised your career when they posted it. At the very least you might make an enemy of the Secretary of State...

"Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon's obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application," she said in an e-mail.

HillDog Accepts

Not News to ANYONE who reads Blasphemes - HillDog has accepted Obama's offer. (link)

I reported that here, what a whole week ago?
Well, anyway, she's pretty excited about it.

Team of Rivals: Clinton Takes SOS Job

Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Job

-or-

How to Keep Your Friends Close, but Keep Shiv Threats Closer

Barack Obama, during the Democratic primaries, cited as influential to his thinking the book "Team Of Rivals," about Abraham Lincoln's opponent-stocked cabinet. It would appear this was more than mere campaign puffery: Obama's former presidential rival Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer to join the president-elect's cabinet as Secretary of State, according to a report in Britain's Guardian, and now here on Blasphemes.

Faced with the prospect of Hillary constantly campaigning against him in the Senate - Obama brings her into the fold. Whether this was part of the deal to keep the knife fight out of Denver (where she could have legitimately made a case for a roll call vote and had the Super Delegates get involved to take the nomination) or just a case of keeping the bitch under wraps with an Administration gag order, we'll have to read about 30-40 years from now. Hell, she may even quit three years into it.

Just look at Powell in the Bush Administration. Speak up once - and get frozen out of the Administration and possibly politics forever.

The flaw in the argument is that Obama is Lincoln.

The Team of Rivals note comes from the Doris Kearns Goodwin book on Abraham Lincoln. The premise of the Goodwin book is of Lincoln’s political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860. All fine and well - but unlike Obama, Lincoln argued on a national level for years about issues such as the Mexican War, tariffs, abolition, Texas annexation, the Wilmot Proviso, economic development in the relatively new nation, and of course Lincoln pretty much founded the Republican Party after the collapse of the Whigs. So, some consolidation was necessary.

When Lincoln ran for President in 1860 he addressed the question of a house divided at the Cooper Union in New York and ran a campaign of important ideas in an increasingly divided nation. In contrast, Obama’s entire campaign was empty, undefined, “change.”

As Lincoln was sworn in as president in March 1861 seven states had already left the Union. The issues of states rights versus a strong central government, agrarian society versus industrial society, new states as slave or free states, and abolition of slavery were all the same argument. The attack by the rebel states on the Union’s Fort Sumter in Charleston on April 12, 1861 began the bloodshed that had been bubbling to the surface since Independence.

The very able Lincoln realized the then much smaller nation needed a unity government and so Lincoln created a unity government - his Team of Rivals. Which, in my opinion, should be viewed as a gathering of a majority, not unlike a multi-party country like Italy or Germany.

To top it off, John McCain has also been sucked into this Obama silliness too. John McCain is promising Obama assistance and cooperation too.

Now maybe, just maybe, this is "change" in the sense of people putting aside differences to get something done. IF this is the case, it will take my cynical heart a while to thaw out for the refreshing new car smell. But I smell something different...

I smell a future scapegoat for Obama to pin any failure on. It's insane that Hillary or Bill would fall for this obvious trap. Trap or good will, it doesn't matter which because her fate is now tied to Obama's.

Could have been funnier though. He could have picked John Kerry.

Denver's Most Important Protest Manifesto

Did you see that guy who got his "Bring Back Crystal Pepsi" sign onto MSNBC while a political analyst was trying to talk about Michelle Obama's big speech? This is a grassroots political campaign that's already threatening to eclipse both Ron Paul and Ralph Nader.

Their manifesto (that could easily be folded into the Democratic Party platform, and probably should) has been released.

Also, this Crystal Pepsi thing, has gotten more press than ANY of the other street protests, is probably the closest the convention comes to actual political dialog.

The following is their Manifesto:

The time for change is now, and the choice is clear, crystal clear. CRYSTAL PEPSI! It's like drinking hope. For us, Crystal Pepsi is freedom in a can. Our platform is based on peace, love, and Crystal Pespi. Down with war, up with Crystal Pepsi. For us it's not about politics, it's only about Crystal Pepsi. This is a movement that we can all get behind, it unifies us to our very core, Crystal Pepsi. The foundation of America is Crystal Pespi.


In all honesty, for me, it's kind of nice to lighten the mood a little bit. Everybody is down there, protesting, screaming about a cause, yelling at one another about how the other person is wrong. It can be kind of a tense situation. It's nice to walk away putting a smile on someone's face, getting a high five, and hearing someone say we represent a movement we can all get on board with. People initially hear the "protest" coming, you can see the look on their face, "Great, what are these people marching and carrying on about?" When they discover our cause is Crystal Pepsi, there is an overwhelming feeling of relief, followed by immediate support.

We hit the town again today. We couldn't help but notice all of the signs in the background of the MSNBC live coverage today. Our platform is so much easier for people to digest.

Who are we? Just some guys here in Denver, trying to have our voice heard. Trying to make a difference. Trying to have a little fun. Brian child of my roommate, and recent college grad, Peter.

As for the Obama picture... we contributed $10 to the Obama campaign to have our picture taken with the Obama cardboard cut-out. However, we have to add, we think Obama would endorse our movement whole heartedly.