2008 Election Maps

As you remember, this was my prediction cast 2 weeks prior to the election. I was wrong about North Dakota and Missouri, although I'm willing to bet a recount would have turned MO blue. A big sea of red continues to occupy the middle of our country.

If we display each state with its population as a key to its size, the picture looks a little different, and that big sea of red in the middle shrinks down to size nicely.

Obama made some serious inroads into traditionally red areas. Notice the Great Lakes region, eastern seaboard, Rocky Mountains, and other rural pockets.

campaign donations

The final campaign contribution numbers are in. Obama received $774m compared to $331m for McCain. This is strange in presidential politics in this country, the republicans usually rake in enormous war chests from big corporations and far outspend their rivals (whose contributors are more often the poor and middle class workers of America).

Once we add in what the national committees spent on behalf of each of the respective candidates, we arrive at a total of precisely $1 billion for Obama vs $775 million for McCain, a much slimmer margin. It is currently unknown how much other partisan organizations contributed, but I suspect the difference between the 2 candidates would be even closer.

The Obama campaign was the most brilliant and classy one that I have ever seen (or heard about) in this country. 91% of his donations were under $100, coming from individual donors such as myself. To add sauce to the goose, over 4 MILLION people donated to his campaign, shattering the record and truly highlighting the fact that this a people's movement.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this possible. Thanks to everyone who donate 5, 10, or 20 dollars during extremely tough financial times in this Bush-created depression. Thanks to all who could not afford to donate, but volunteered instead. Thanks to those who no longer remained silent, talked to their friends, coworkers, neighbors, and relatives to spread the message of hope. Thanks to anyone who had the courage to stand up, fight for whats right, and did their part in taking our country back from the parasites who stole it from us 8 years ago. Finally, thanks to Barack Obama, the man with a vision who had the audacity of hope that inspired millions.

2008 Election Predictions

Obama/Biden 378 McCain/Palin 160


The results are in! After 8 long years under king george and the fascist neocons, a good, decent, and intelligent man under the banner of democracy, freedom, and fairness will once again become our president: Barrack Obama. This election campaign has been one huge endurance test, and despite the desperate attacks from the republicans, the country has finally had enough of the failed policies of our old leaders. Time for a paradigm shift to something better.

Although Obama will certainly win, it is very difficult to predict by exactly how much. The map above is my personal prediction for how the electoral map will look after all is said and done, but there are a few places where its close enough that we need to look a bit deeper.

1. Montana and North Dakota. ND is leaning Obama, Montana is leaning McCain. However, they could go either way. Everything depends on the final week of campaign messages and how many vote 3rd party (esp. Bob Barr).

2. Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia. With rally crowds exceeding 100,000, Missouri seems fairly certain to go democratic, though this is still a toss up. Indiana looks like it might have finally woken up, although there is a large conservative 'under the radar' vote that is hard to account for. West Virginia must have forgotten how their economy was decimated by outsourcing and republican rule, because they seem to be turning to mccain.

3. Atlantic South. North Carolina is up in the air, but the triangle should be enough to make this red state blue. Florida finally looks like its trending to Obama. Georgia might be a surprise. The polls still have mccain with a 5-7pt edge, but this state could slide into the democratic camp if the republican party keeps making serious mistakes (calls to kill Obama, calling him a terrorist, staging racial attacks, etc.).


As you may recall, back in Oct.'04, I made a failed prediction about the presidential race. US Pres Election 2004 This is the map I predicted:
I am man enough to admit my mistakes, and I was wrong about the 2004 election. I got 48 states right, but New Mexico went to Bush by a few thousand, and Ohio voted republican, although I still blame that on voting irregularities (how many thousands turned away after seeing a 10 hour line to vote in freezing rain?). I may miss a couple states this time around as well, only time will tell. Got a prediction of your own? go HERE to Make Your Own Map.

Small Town America

Will small town America vote Democrat or republican? That all depends. I was born in a small town, raised in a small town, and spend most of my time in small towns across this country. I find that there are 2 predominant types of people here.

Small Town Type 1: the Democrat (or liberal)




The Democrat is usually the nice, soft spoken neighbor, willing to help out whenever needed, never stirring up trouble, rational and cool headed, honest, non-judgemental, tolerant, and humble. They treat people the way they want to be treated. The democrat has a good, self-deprecating sense of humor and loves a good laugh, but rarely at the expense of someone else. Perhaps most importantly, they look inside and strive to become a better person each day and to make the world a better place.


Small Town Type 1: the Republican (or conservative)




The Republican is the grumpy, loud mouthed neighbor, helping themselves first and foremost, always stirring up trouble, irrational and hot headed, deceitful, quick to make snap judgements, intolerant, and conceited. They use people to get what they want. The republican has a wicked sense of humor, usually only finding humor at someone elses expense. They are selfish, mistrustful, suspicious, and greedy. They are not concerned with self improvement, but rather strike out at others to try to impose their way of thinking upon them.


Now riddle me this..how did small town America, MY America, end up being run by Type 2? It wasn't always like this, and I don't believe for one minute it will stay like this.

annual update

OK, so its been one hell of a long year without any updates. What can I say? Life gets busy, and reporting on things like this get sidetracked. That doesn't mean there isn't news or commentary, it just means I haven't been keeping up to date.

THE LAST YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE
One year ago today, there were a dozen candidates for both parties vying for their coveted nominations. The only news on the fascist (ie. republican) side was Ron Paul, who spoke his mind, got nothing but boo's during the debates, and almost made me a libertarian (a couple of times). On the democratic (ie. sane) side, a young upstart named Barack Obama was dueling with the innevitable Clinton dynasty, with my prefered candidate John Edwards running a close 3rd.

A year later, it may be a good thing Edwards didn't get the nod after the dirt came out about his affair. Not that anything should dilute his message, but that would have been disaster politically, as the rovian propagandists would have destroyed him publicly during the election. My predictions about the country not being mature enough to elect a woman or a half black man as president might still happen, but I as many others in the unspoken category of the silent majority are doing everything in our power to prevent a 3rd bush term. Obama led a very respectable grassroots campaign against Clinton, who despite her failings, would have made a formidable candidate none the less, and he earned a hard fought nomination.

McCain, who had my respect back in 2000, obviously sold out in '04. I went way out on a limb back then and predicted that he was bowing to the powers that be, the entrenched big business lobbyists that really run Washington, so that he would be the next nominee in the neocon party to be president. My prediction turned out to be true (hate to say I told you so). He is now indistinguishable from King george (bush that is), despite his propaganda about being a maverick.

My working white class voters may be the clincher in this close election. I am a working man, my father was a working man, and if there is one thing life has taught me, its that we cannot let ourselves be fooled or distracted by the corporate propaganda. Working men vote democratic, sell outs vote republican (like too many did during the horrible Reagan years).

McBush and his cohorts have done a fantastic job confusing the real issues with typical rovian style attack politics this election so far, managing to blunt Obamas momentum and keeping his team on the defensive. He hasn't been as sharp in his rebuttals as I had hoped, but I think the times have changed, and the public will come around by election day. Some groups like moveon.org and planned parenthood are trying help out, and everyone needs YOU to step up right now and publically declare your support to changing this country to the better. Now all we need is some debates to contrast the candidates. This time, lets not let the republican candidate get a radio feed from his handlers, and watch how the polls turn democratic.

Greenspan attacks Bush's financial disaster

The BBC reports that Bush ignored his advice to veto "out-of-control" bills that sent the US deeper into deficit. This severely under reported news story is one of the many huge warts on the ugly face of the policies of King George during his reign as pseudo dictator over this country. The massive defecits have generated a staggering national debt that has now surpassed the 9 TRILLION mark (see the US National Debt Clock for current figures).

If you were the head of a household, and spent beyond your income, paying for things by running up credit card debt, it wouldn't be long before the bank would forclose on your house, take away your car and all your furniture, and leave you destitute and homeless. That is EXACTLY what is happening to our nation! In the insanely despicable act of granting behemouth tax cuts to the rich and large corporations, coupled with out of control military spending, King George has screwed our national economy. Sure things never look too bad when you are still borrowing money to pay for things, giving the false appearance of prosperity, but those debts need to be repayed at some point.

Who will repay the debts the conservatives have given us? Our children? Our grandchildren? What was the dire need to go many trillions of dollars into debt for? Were chinese hordes invading north america? Was there a deadly plague killing millions? Was there a comet coming to destroy the planet? The loss of the world trade center and the initial spending to attack the terrorist infrastructure (which is NOT the failed occupation of Iraq) only add up so far.

In the end, this national financial disaster will haunt the Bush legacy for generations to come. With any luck, it will also quell any archaic notions that linger about the supposed financial misdeeds of 'tax and spend' democrats from back in the 60s and 70s as well. The republicans should forever be remembered as the party that bankrupted our nation to make the rich richer.

Burma

Myanmar's constitutional talks a "total sham" accd to the AFP. For once, the state dept has hit the nail on the head. Myanmar (formerly Burma) has held a constitutional congress that sidesteps democracy and gives the appearance of legitimacy to the countries military rulers. These are harsh dictators bent on subjugating all ethnic groups and brutally supressing any dissent. Funny how this barely gets mentioned on the back page of an online newspaper where another tinpot dictator got front page news for months. I guess if Myanmar (Burma) had large quantities of oil, they could expect an invasion. As it stands, our hypocritical govt here in the US sends an less well known spokesman from the State Dept (Tom Casey) to issue a verbal reprimand.

Sneaky Bush

King George snuck into Iraq under the darkness of night recently to praise his own policy of escalation. It is clearly a preemptive and futile attempt to justify his failed foreign policy here in the wake of the upcoming report on the 'progress in Iraq' (set up on a pass/fail basis with low expectations, thus a D- will be spun into a positive on any of the marks).

Internet Censorship

Call to regulate the net rejected accd to the BBC. The internet should not be used as a scapegoat for society's ills, said Vint Cerf, Google's net evangelist and a founding father of the network.

There is already heavy censorship of online material in most of the world, especially in China. Now, the conservatives in the US are trying to take away all freedom of real expression in this country in much the same way, albeit in more insidious ways.

From the inception of the internet to the modern day, the internet has been a bastion of free expression. Whether information (such as Wikipedia), searches (such as Google), movies (imdb), etc., anything, I repeat ANYTHING has been able to be posted without harrassment from governments until recently. But the pressure is mounting. The bullshit artists are beginning to try to limit free speech via the precedence of undecency standards, which we all know is the start of government censorship of anything deemed contrary to its own position (in ANY country you live in around the world). Net Neutrality must be preserved, unless we all want big brother to tell us what is acceptable to think.

Wikipedia under attack!

the BBC reports that certain agencys have made tactical edits to the free online encyclopedia. Though this should come as no surprise, it is yet another reminder on how information itself is under attack from groups or individuals with an agenda. Scientific facts are regularly questioned both here in the United States as well as the Islamic world and many, many places elsewhere.

This attack on knowledge is nothing knew. It has been in place by governmental institutions from tribal elders to royal courts to the nazi regime. They simply attack the truth to push their own agenda, and get their puppets (in the US, this comes in the form of radio talk show hosts) to put a seed of doubt into the mass consciousness about proveable theories, thus advancing their false adgenda. Look at the attack on evolution in the US today, what factual, scientific basis do any of these assholes have?

An assault on Wikipedia is an assault on education, free thought, wisdom, and science. We all need to be offended by this bullshit and speak out against it in our "outdoor voices".

Karl Rove tribute

Karl Rove, the chief architect of the neofascist movement in the United States, has finally left his post as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Bush regime. For those of you who have been living under a rock or are too poor to pay attention, let me give you a brief list of his highlights as executive puppet master to King George.

1. He was instumental in devizing the most divisive and polarizing political attack strategy in US history. Rove advocated "energizing" the conservative republican base to win elections, rather than seek middle ground positions. Although they somehow worked in getting a doofus like George Bush elected twice, they mercilessly savaged good people both on the left and in the middle for the last 7 years. This shifted the political spectrum in this country far to the right, making even regular conservatives appear to be moderates by comparison.

2. This brutal tactic of vicious and personal attacks extended to means inside office as well. In the wake of 911, he tried to score politcal points by saying that, "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." He insinuated Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "fathered an illegitimate black child". Rove is linked to the so called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the smear group that accused war hero John F. Kerry of cowardice in the 2004 election. Typical rumor-mongering and dirty mud slinging that effectively plants a seed without any evidence, but always has an effect.

3. TREASON! Hot Karl was likely the one who orchestrated, if not directly leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative, Valeria Plame. This was done as direct retribution because her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, IV, refused to manufacture evidence implicating Iraq as trying to purchase Yellowcake from Nigeria in the propaganda war leading up to the invasion.

4. Karl Rove was involved in the firings of 9 US attorney who were not Republican loyalists. Though Alberto Gonzales is ultimately the one with the greatest fault here, it was a vindictive politcal vendetta meant to further stack the courts with former colleagues and neocon activist judges. Further, he was likely involved in the "accidental" deleting of all emails pertaining to this scandal (funny how those were the only ones that disappeared).



There are many, many more things (this IHT for example)I could list in detail, but I think you get the idea. This behind the scenes neofascist is finally out of official government. There is a legacy of destruction behind him, and I dont think anybody could blame the Democrats if they adopt similar attactics to rebalance the political system when they win the presidency in 2008 (though it will take them 8 years to undo the damage).

Remember Karl Rove not at "boy genius" or "bushs brain", but as Darth Deceiptful.

Kosovo partition

An international envoy says the partition of Kosovo could be acceptable as a way of breaking the deadlock over the province's future. the BBC reports.

This may be only viable political solution to this horrific situation in my opinion. It would appease the Kosovo Albanians by giving them their independence while allowing the Serbs who cherish this land as the birthplace of their culture and civilization a stake as well. In order to be an acceptable compromise by the Serbian nation however, the partition would have to include an area much larger than a 10% slice, and would likely have to include a meandering boundary to guarantee access to their most sacred historical sites.

Gorbachev attacks American Imperialism

Former President Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday that the fall of the Soviet Union, which he helped bring about, ushered in an era of U.S. imperialism responsible for many of the world's gravest problems.

I truly don't understand how something this important could get absolutely zero coverage in the western world. This issue is at the forefront of what has gone wrong with the world in the last 20 years.

In the insane days of the Cold War, there was a counterbalance between the Communists centered in the Soviet Union and the capitalists centered in the United States. With both sides mounting multiple warhead ICBMs (InterContintinental Ballistic Missiles) capable of horrific destructive capacity, there was an atmosphere of Mututally Assured Destruction (MAD), which didn't allow either side to get too agressive.

Michael Gorbachev ascended to the rule the Politburo of the Communist party, and this man of vision clearly saw that the adversarial and antagonistic attitudes of both nations was hurting both parties. In a bold move, he unilaterally began opening up the USSR to change in a show of good faith thru such measures as perestroika and glasnost (google or wikipedia them if you are unfamiliar).

Gorbachev was a man of peace and made the first overtures of reconcilliation, expecting that the US would follow suite and initiate their own domestic measures of trust and disarmament. Unfortunately, under the conservative cultural change embodied by the great deceiver Ronald Reagan, the powers that be in our county interpreted every concession by the USSR as further cause what we were right in the first place.

This is like some schoolyard squabble where one kid realizes thats its ridiculous to fight, so they begin to seek compromise (regardless of who was right in the first place or who threw the first punch). Let bygones be bygones and lets just walk away so to speak. But this other kid doesn't have peace on his mind, and see's every gesture of the first kid as being a pussy, so gets even more aggressive. Without a playground monitor, you can guess where this leads.

The US had and continues to have a moral obligation to stand down. We must dismantle our gargantuan sized military industrial complex, and use the peace dividend to rebuild our nation. No more world police, no more CIA overthrows of foreign governments, no more invasions of sovereign countries. The end result of us showing our truly peaceful character is a better world. The result of us bullying the world in a show of superiority is for other nations to rise up and confront us in the future. Its our choice.

Another MidEast Gamble

US 'plans huge Saudi arms deal'

In a huge strategic gamble, the Bush Administration plans to sell the conservative republic of Saudi Arabia 20 billion dollars worth of sophisticated weaponry to counter the growing strength of Iran in the region. Iran is far from a friend of liberal freedoms in the world. In fact, they are so brutally repressive towards basic human liberties, that they make King George and his neocon collaborators look nice in comparison. Iran is an ultra conservative power in the region that must be dealt with at some point and time. The main question is how and when.

Let us review some of the strategic gambles the US has taken in the Middle East in the past. To counter Soviet alliances among Arab republics, the Pentagon gave a vast arsenal to our current ally in the region, the Shah in Iran. Being shortsighted as the military industrial complex often proves to be, they failed to predict a mass popular uprising in that country in 1979.
Following the horrific events of that tragedy, they fueled one Saddam Hussein with massive amounts of weaponry to counter the Islamic republic in Iran. Again, failing to see things as they really are, Hussein turned out to be a brutal dictator, more bent on his own ambitions than anything else. Iraq soon turned its new arms on a territorial gambit with Kuwait. The first and second wars ensued (and let me say, the second was completely unnecessary).

Which brings us to this latest gamble. The Pentagon argues that Saudi Arabia is steady ally in the region that supports a march towards not only Western, but humanistic values (basic freedoms of human beings) and is prepared to support them with the brute force of advanced weaponry. What if, now this a hypothetical, but the question must be asked, WHAT IF this sale turns out to once again go to support some force of evil in the region? It would be testimony to the failure of the central forces in the US once again to be a force for good in the region.

We must tread very carefully in this hornets nest of regions. Giving deadly weapons to a country based on poor evidence could backfire yet again on us.

Decades of False Detention in the US

The BBC reports that "[four men] spent decades in prison after the FBI withheld evidence of their innocence. Two died in jail. After being falsely convicted and jailed in 1965, they were finally released in 2001 when the buried evidence of their innocence finally leaked its way out of the FBIs secrative locked files. For those of us in dictatorial-like states with excessive government control, this comes as no real surprise, the fact that it ever was proven to have taken place is most surprising. People disappear or are falsely imprisoned everyday in the United States and other harsh countries in the world.

A jury awared the families a total of $100 million US (worth much less with our wimpy dollar and being split by 4 families), which is hardly compensation for spending 36 years, half of their lives in a federal pen. The men who were behind this cowardly act should be imprisoned for the rest of their lives to give them a taste of what they did to innocent men, which would hardly even be enough, since these men have spent the better parts of their lives in freedom and are now nearly dead themselves.

The good fight

"Democrats gather in Tennessee this weekend to discuss how to appeal to moderate, independent-minded voters in 2008" AP. There is a bit of an identity crisis in the democratic party the last couple decades. On one hand, the left side of the party advocates a strong stance on issues of social justice and the other, often termed the "moderate" side advocates a soft spoken approach.

In the last election, John Kerry listened to the moderate side of the party and tried to appeal early to the more "centrist" issues and "independent" voters. His opponent, King George was starkly devisive, had strongly worded speeches, and appealed solely to the hard core ultra conservative base (didn't even attempt to appeal to independent voters). What was the result? As bad of a president as he proved to be, driving our nation into deep debt, selling out to China, making up bullshit excuses to invade Iraq, and waging a deadly assault on the Constituion, this horror of presidents won by 3 million votes!

When will the Democratic party wake up? Evil must be opposed. Wrongs must be confronted. The conservative Republican deceit must be fought. The only thing that keeping your mouths shut will do is to let them get their way and win yet another presidency (7/10 terms of this uber powerful post have been under conservative control). The late fallen Senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone claimed that he was from the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party". This is the type of leader reasonable thinking men and women need to stand up for whats right. Not some watered down type of compromiser who will sell out real values for a non-confrontational manner.

US may now strike Pakistan

Sometimes the Republicans are so ridiculously and obnoxiously stupid that I have to wonder how they got so shortchanged on brains at birth. In their latest signs of lunacy, the govt of King George states that "American forces might be sent into Pakistan to strike at Osama Bin Laden." Don't misunderstand me, any chance to hit that islamo-conservative fanatic would be music to my ears, but if he is in Pakistan, you *have* to let them do the job.

"President Pervez Musharraf has a shaky hold over their country the way it is, and has already "vowed to root out extremists from every corner of the country". The conservative elements of this country are ready to rebel, and all it would take is a spark, like King George ordering an airstrike within their sovereign borders. Then what would we have? A conservative islamic uprising and possible revolution in Pakistan.

The short sighted nature of Republicans in the US simply astounds me. Sometimes I think they *want* the conservative islamists to take control over there (maybe to justify destroying the economy to support a mammoth military-industrial complex or using the Constitution as toilet paper).

Political Vendettas

US Govt attacking Cats. In a region of the USA that actively aspires to achieve independence, the Keys of Florida, the US Government under the direction of King George and his consevative minions have sunk to a new low. They are attacking the right of the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum to keep control of its own pets. More specifically, the famous 6 toed cats introduced by the famous writer Ernest Hemmingway.

This shallow and petty political vendetta has nothing to do with animal control in the slightest. It has EVERYTHING to do with a vindictive conservative republican administration bent on the task of attacking anything that disagrees with it. Under their polically appointed partisan puppet, the U.S. Animal and Plant Inspection Service officials argue that the house, listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1968, requires a federal Animal Welfare License, like a circus or zoo. Like a fucking CIRCUS! Like cats with 6 toes are as dangerous as Lions or Elephants! Get a fucking life you bastards. Wake up and smell the corruption already! Attacking cats to fight free thought via a long dead author and the spirit of freedom he inspired, give me a break. We have better ways to spend our tax dollars than a republican political vendetta like this.

US National Debt

By the time you finish reading this article, the national debt in this country will be well over a million dollars greater. The US debt is fast approaching 9 trillion. check out theU.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK to see what it is currently at, thanks to King George. Our debt is increasing by $14,815 every second thanks to gross fiscal mismanagement by the neocons. I have reported on this previously, to refute the misconception that liberal democrats are 'tax and spend' oriented, but nobody seems to be listening.

How would your personal finances hold up if you got a bunch of credit cards, and just continued to borrow thousands of dollars a year to give you a false sense of financial well being? Bankruptcy, thats where. You would soon realize that the mounting debt you are accumulating will ruin your material well being. All those electronic toys, nice furniture, and ample floor space will soon be repossessed, leaving you on the street, begging for soup. It is the same with our nation. Tax cuts for the rich, a war to rectify daddy, exporting jobs, etc. are the motto of the conservatives, and this is ruining our country financially. Thanks again King George and you shortsighted neocon fucksticks. We are now over a million dollars poorer as a nation!

NY firefighters attack Giuliani

NY firefighters attack Giuliani. The NYC firefighters state that, "Giuliani pushed for a faster clean-up at Ground Zero before all the remains had been recovered, and placed an emergency centre in a building that later collapsed" which [led to the deaths of 121 men]. It went on to state, "[Giuliani] failed to provide working radios for crews and halted the recovery effort too soon" and that "Giuliani is exploiting the disaster as a theme for his presidential candidacy."

Lets see how he tries to spin his lies in the face of this!