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Food Porn - 00005 2008-01-20 03:03:00 Banana bread compote over buttermilk pancakes - the breakfast of champions on an icy day. ...

Congrats to the Victors 2008-01-19 23:58:00 McCain and Huckabee, the two GOP candidates that comedian Rush Limbaugh predicted would destroy the Republican party if either was the nominee, finished one and two, respectively, in the South Carolina Republican primary today. Fred Thompson finished a distant third, and sounded unsure of his next move [CNN]:After a weak showing in the South Carolina primary, Fred Thompson gave a wistful speech to supporters, telling them "we'll always stand strong together." Thompson had staked his campaign on a strong finish in the Republican primary here.While he remains in the race, two sources told CNN that "it was abundantly evident to all of us" that the bar was a win or a very competitive second place in South Carolina to continue to be viable in the GOP presidential race.Thompson has no public schedule Sunday, and is planning to consult with campaign manager Bill Lacy and other top advisers about the next move. "We are not blind to the obvious," said one senior campaign adviser.Duncan Hunter ...

Caturday 006 2008-01-19 23:52:00 ...

The Long-Awaited Apology 2008-01-18 14:33:00 Finally, on Thursday, Bob Johnson did what he should have done on Sunday... what Hillary said on Tuesday that he had already done. From CNN:The founder and former CEO of Black Entertainment Television apologized Thursday to Sen. Barack Obama for what appeared to be veiled comments this week regarding the Democratic presidential hopeful's acknowledged drug use as a teenager. Bob Johnson, a high-profile supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, said he sent Obama a letter and also was reaching out by phone.Obama spokesman Bill Burton responded Thursday afternoon, saying, "Obama accepts the apology. We're going to leave it at that."[....]Johnson's apology comes as both the Clinton and Obama campaigns step up their efforts to win South Carolina's coveted African-American vote. Nearly 50 percent of the likely Democratic voters in the state are African-American. Both campaigns are rolling out high-profile black leaders and celebrities leading up to the state's January 26 Democratic primary.I ...

Rage Against the Machines 2008-01-17 14:35:00 O.K., since picking up Greg Palast's Armed Madhouse and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy a few months ago, I've been trying to not become overly paranoid about what might happen with voting machines in Election 2008. At worst I thought it might be something to worry about at general election time. Then came the New Hampshire Democratic primary results, where the establishment candidate did significantly better in those precincts using machines, while Obama did noticeably better where paper ballots were used.The corporate media outlets were quick to allay everyone's fears with the explanation that these differences were easily explained by demographic differences in Clinton precincts versus those that went more heavily for Obama. Something still didn't feel right about the results, but by that time all the pundits seemed to have busied themselves with going after the pollsters.Thankfully, some individuals far more adept at statistical analysis than me were not so easily diverted. ...

GOP Terrorist 2008-01-16 14:41:00 It would seem that the only logical next step is to designate the Republican Party a terrorist organization as we did with Iran's Republican Guard, right? "Republican" Party, "Republican" Guard ...coincidence??From the AP via CNN:A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al Qaeda and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying -- money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency fo ...

Hillary on Bob Johnson's Remarks 2008-01-16 13:56:00 From last night's Nevada Democratic debate [via NYT]:MR. RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, in terms of accountability, you told me on Sunday morning, "Any time anyone has said anything that I thought was out of bounds, they're gone. I've gotten rid of them." Shortly thereafter, that same afternoon, Robert Johnson, at your event, said, quote, "When Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood that -- I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book" -- widely viewed as a reference to Senator Obama's "Dreams from My Father," from 1995, where he talked about his drug use as a teenager. Will you now not allow Robert Johnson to participate in any of your campaign events because of that conduct?SEN. CLINTON: Well, Bob has put out a statement saying what he was trying to say and what he thought he had said. We accept him on his word on that.But clearly we want to send a very clear message to everybody that this campaign is too important for us to either get diverted or frankly g ...

Political Civility, Camp Songs and Regurgitation 2008-01-16 13:20:00 I've been trying to watch some TV news today to get a taste of the spinning going on with the results of the Michigan Republican primary and the Nevada Democratic debate. It's been there, though I've had to do a lot of channel-flipping to avoid the barrage of LCpl Cesar Laurean updates and the in-depth coverage of the O.J. Simpson bail hearing.What I've distilled is this:No one, including me, was really surprised to see Romney win a primary in the state where he was born... particularly after the saturation pandering campaign he waged there during the past week. From the AP:Mitt Romney's victory in Michigan was a defeat for authenticity in politics. The former Massachusetts governor pandered to voters, distorted his opponents' record and continued to show why he's the most malleable — and least credible — major presidential candidate. And it worked.The order of finish of the rest of the GOP field held no real surprises either, though Ron Paul beating Rudy Giuliani and Fred ...

Homegrown Theocracy 2008-01-15 15:04:00 Wow. Theocracy is not just for Middle Eastern Islamic nations anymore. Nice Guy GOP candidate for president Mike Huckabee is ready for it right here in the good ol' U. S. of A.Huckabee's speeches these days are long on talk about illegal immigration and about Christian values. But as NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy reports, via MSNBC's First Read:...last night he got specific, promising to build a border fence within 18 months if elected and elaborating on his belief that the constitution needs to be amended."[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards," Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.Huckabee often refers to ...

I'm Waiting 2008-01-15 14:16:00 It happened Sunday during black billionaire entertainment mogul Bob Johnson's introduction of Hillary Clinton in an appearance at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina. If you've not been in a coma and have been near a television, you've almost certainly seen the clip of what I consider to be the most offensive moment of this campaign... so far.If the above video does not play, go here.From the AP report:"To me, as an African American, I am frankly insulted the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues — when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood; I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book — when they have been involved," Johnson said.Obama wrote about his teenage drug use — marijuana, alcohol and sometimes cocaine — in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father."Johnson later said his comments referred to Obama's work as a commun ...

Obama and Farrakhan? 2008-01-15 12:50:00 Professor David Bernstein, writing at The Volokh Conspiracy, expands on today's column by Richard Cohen at the WashPo which discusses a potentially damaging (for Obama) and at least unsettling (for Obama-leaners) connection to Louis Farrakhan via the pastor of Obama's home church in Chicago, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Rev. Wright is widely regarded as the senator's "spiritual mentor." Cohen begins:Barack Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan.Maybe for Wright and some others, Farrakhan "epitomized greatness." For most Americans, though, Farrakhan epitomizes racis ...

The New Thompson Tactics 2008-01-14 15:21:00 The Raleigh Chronicle yesterday released the results of a poll conducted by North Carolina based Public Policy Polling on Friday and Saturday. With the South Carolina Republican primary barely a week away at the time of the polling (Saturday, Jan. 19), their results were:John McCain leads with 28% of the votes;Mike Huckabee with 21%;Mitt Romney with 17%;Fred Thompson with 14%;Rudy Giuliani with only 5%;and Ron Paul with 5%."It's been assumed that Huckabee would do well in the state because of the high number of evangelicals voting in the Republican primary, but only 16% of respondents to the poll listed moral and family values as the issue of greatest concern to them," said PPP in their results summary. "But more respondents chose the economy and jobs (27%), the War in Iraq (21%), and immigration (21%) as their top issue."The latest Rasmussen daily tracking poll results in South Carolina show McCain at 23%, Huckabee 20%, Mitt Romney 13%, Fred Thompson 12%, Rudy Giuliani 11% and Ron P ...

Potential Nuclear Side Effect for an Afghanistan Surge 2008-01-14 13:57:00 Reuters reports [here and here] that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended to the White House that 3000 or more additional U.S. troops be sent to Afghanistan. Though no final decision has been made on the deployment at this point, given the amount of trumpeting of success this administration has done re the Iraq surge, it's hard to imagine that if this can be done that it would not be done. An important part of Bush foreign policy seems to be that the answer to any foreign "problem" is to shoot more bullets at it.Gates says that the additional forces are needed for an anticipated Spring offensive by hardline Islamist Taliban militants, who have been mounting a resurgence in the country over the past two years. The United States currently has 27,000+ troops in Afghanistan, which is a record high.Gates' announcement comes coincidentally on the heels of a story yesterday in The Marine Corps Times [hat tip to The Liberal Journal] in which staff writer William H. McMichael writ ...

Caturday 005 2008-01-12 20:25:00 In honor of my son Andrew's 23rd birthday tomorrow. ...

Your Papers, Please 2008-01-12 17:46:00 It seemed impossible to turn on a news channel yesterday and not be treated to the grim grinning gaunt visage of Michael Chertoff. He was announcing a set of regulations to implement the Real ID program, passed by the Republican sheep Congress in 2005. The good news was supposed to be that these draconian measures were going going into effect immediately. States have until May 2011 before they need to begin issuing licenses that meet the department's new guidelines, and until December 2014 to begin replacing current licenses. Drivers over the age of 50 will not have to obtain new licenses until the end of 2017.However, starting May 11 of this year, states resisting the law will be penalized: Their driver's licenses won't be valid for air travel. States that are not in compliance will have to apply for waivers that will be issued at the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security to enable their citizens to use current format drivers licenses as identification.Via WashPo:Chert ...