Register to vote, and send Voltage to play at the Democratic National Convention.  We have songs that are perfect for the event already written, and I am already the number one democrat at the DNC.

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It is obvious that the Democratic Party is rapidly unifying. All the signs are there. Hillary Clinton deserves much of the credit! It has now become clear that the most offensive alleged Clinton backers posting on the Internet were never really Clinton supporters. As many people know, Rush Limbaugh launched a major disruption campaign designed to divide Democrats called "Operation Chaos". He urged his listeners to pretend to be Clinton supporters and create chaos in the Democratic Party. I recognize some of the Free Republic.com wingnuts who are Limbaugh fans posting here pretending to be Clinton supporters. They really are just Internet political terrorists. They are really frightened by the excellent prospects for huge Democratic gains at all levels this November. There is no dirty political tactic that these enemies of honest political discourse would not use! Real Clinton supporters would never support an openly anti-Choice candidate like McCain. The Supreme Court Justices that McCain would appoint are exactly the kind of Justices that Bush appointed. McCain would continue to cut funding to equal opportunity programs for women and minorities. McCain would continue the Iraq War. McCain would oppose almost every single idea supported by Hillary Clinton during her campaign. Obama would support almost every single major idea Clinton supported. Democrats want more jobs. Democrats want universal health care. We want open government. We want less influence for lobbyists and huge international corporations. We do not want oil companies, HMO's and drus companies running our government. Democrats want to de-politicize the Department of Justice and the federal courts corrupted by the Republicans. Democrats want to address the high cost of a college education. We want to really promote alternative energy. We want to attack price-gouging by large corporations. We want to rebuild our economic infrastructure before it is completely collapses. McCain will only continue the failed policies of the Bush Republicans. He is no longer a reformer (if he ever really was one). McCain voted with the Bush White House over 95% of the time since he started his White House bid! Democrats are not idiots. We do not want a third term for Bush by electing a "McBush". We want to control both the House and the Senate. We want our government back and are uniting to get it back!

Subject: Now that the primaries are over, remember what is truly at stake!!! Hi to all! This is kind of long, but I felt like I just had to write it. I was agonized today to see a column in "The Tennesseean" in which the writer pitched the case for many Hillary Clinton supporters to wind up voting for John McCain, and claimed that this is what is happening across our country. According to this columnist, women who supported Clinton are saying they will now vote for McCain, and the writer brandished a supposed national poll showing McCain currently with an 8-point lead among white women. Admittedly, the columnist was from the right, which throws her perspective off right away. After all, she has an agenda to help urge that switch along. But I was agonized, quite literally, to think that any woman who has called herself a Democrat or even an independent could for one second even contemplate voting for John McCain in the fall, simply because her candidate did not win the Denocrtic nomination. (That goes for men, too!) Now that the bruising divisiveness of our primary process is behind us, it is time for all of us to remember what is truly at stake here. This is no peacetime, everything's going great election cycle. Our country is in serious trouble, and perhaps standing at the precipous from which one more false step will lead to its permanent decline. The matter at stake that has lasting ramifications for many decades to come is that of the Supreme Court. Seven of nine justices currently serving were appointed by Republican presidents. As many as four seats on the Court may come up in the next four years, and almost certainly two at minimum will open up for appointments. John McCain is now firmly on record as saying he will nominate for those appointments the exact same kind of justices and federal judges we have seen from George W. Bush, and that means only one thing for those women who vote for him -- fewer rights. Fewer rights in employment and equal pay. Fewer in terms of sexual harassment. Fewer reproductive rights. The list is lengthy. As is the list of issues on which McCain's so-called "straight talk express" has been very clear in putting him on the record in the past three months: continued war in Iraq; no diplomacy when it comes to our enemies (so we make decisons in a vacuum); continued "tax cut" deficit spending that hurts our economy while benefiting the rich. It goes on and on from the man whose Senate record shows he voted the Bush line 95% of the time! It's Bush Lite -- sound centrist, but less substance! And read what the "Guardian" newspaper of London wrote today about how Republicans want to try to exploit any rifts in our party: "With the Democratic nomination settled, the Republican party are seeking to exploit divisions within the Democratic party and peel away Democrats and independents uneasy with Barack Obama. As soon as it became clear Obama had clinched the nomination on Tuesday night, the Republican national committee's research arm began releasing memos highlighting criticism of the Illinois senator from fellow Democrats. The Republicans memos featured primary-campaign comments that are critical of Obama from Democrats, including former president Jimmy Carter, senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, and of course Hillary Clinton. "Democrats vs Obama," the rubric is named. The Republican party hopes to capitalise on the lingering dissension among Clinton supporters, and to split them off from the party while they are still angry. The quarry: 17.5m Americans who voted for Clinton in the primaries. The party also hopes to show independent voters that not even the Democrats are united behind Obama. "The longer the Democrats have [to take] to heal these divisions, the longer it gives McCain to organise in the key states and raise money," said David Johnson, an Atlanta-based Republican strategist. "It keeps them from attacking him and trying to tie McCain to Bush. If his own party has so many questions about him, how can the American people support him?" Republicans say that using Democrats' own words against Obama effectively augments attacks from McCain surrogates like former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who this morning said, "for all of Barack Obama's charm, that he doesn't have the experience to lead our economy at a time like this." It's time for us all to take a giant deep breath and begin to heal from the primaries -- and then to consider the benefits our party has derived from those primaries and the risks of not following through with that process all the way to the White House. We have benefited from the 56-primary Obama-Clinton struggle because the nominee of our party will now stand as a much stronger candidate as a result of that process. The fact that the primary process actually did what it was constructed to do this time, and was not short-circuited, means that presumptive nominee Barack Obama emerges better tested and better ready for the fall. There was no free pass this time for either Obama or Clinton, and whoever emerged was sure to be strenghtened by the process and far less likely to get KO'ed by a surprise attack later. There is a far lesser chance of a John Kerry "Swift-Boat" type attack being sprung on candidates so well vetted by the primary process. Both Clinton and Obama became tougher fighters during the primaries, and that will serve both well in their political futures. We are stronger as a party now, having drawn in millions of young and new voters, as well as attracting some Republicans and independents who for the first time have declared themselves Democrats in the primaries. We are poised by any reasonable measure for victory on a national scale that may be of historic proportions -- not only in the presidential race, but in the House and Senate as well -- IF we can heal and join together to do this. It quite literally is ours to lose, and the decisions each one of us makes between now and November will decide our own fate as a party and as a nation. Do we want to help our nation emerge from this cave we are living in? Or do we want to yet again fall back into the darkness? It's up to each of us. I hope you'll reflect on this, and pray about it, and then join me in reaching toward the future! Thanks for all you do! Jim Steele Vice Chair Lincoln County Democratic Party (Tennessee)

I recently saw Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn on C-SPAN trying to sell America on the political agenda of the oil industry.

Her performance was a disgrace. She showed a bunch of charts on oil policy that were pure works of fiction. They had numbers on fuel prices resulting from policy positions that were pure imagination with zero basis in fact.

She claims that price-gouging has no impact on the current outrageous prices at the pump. Please! Blackburn expects us to believe this oil industry talking point.

The current price spiral is not solely based on supply and demand. It is largely based on market power and manipulation.

She claims not building refineries is a major cause when the oil industry has intentionally been closing profitable refineries to restrict supply and drive up prices.

Blackburn did not mention alternative energy policies which are long overdue and which have been blocked by the oil industry for decades.

We do not need more oil-soaked members of Congress. I hope her District will send her into retirement in November.

I am sure she can find a cushy position with Exxon/Mobil.

Sincerely,
Stephen Crockett

It is obvious that we have a very large number of Republican infiltrators posing as Democrats on this site trying to disrupt our Party unity. This is not a new problem. For those of us who have posted on earlier Democratic Party (DNC) blogs, we know that given the opportunity, hundreds of nasty comments would be posted by crazy, Far Right Republican partisans and partisans of Free Republic.com.

They seem to be using the Clinton-Obama contest as an opportunity to attempt to undermine our unity. They have very little hope otherwise of winning the White House nor retaining even significant minorities in Congress.

First of all, both Clinton and Obama have pledged to support the Democratic ticket in November regardless of who is our nominee. All supporters of both candidates should be honor bound to follower these two leaders in doing the same.

I am asking everyone posting here to make a personal commitment to support the Democratic ticket by adding a public commitment to do so in the form of a comment to this thread.

Publicly condemn racist or sexist comments posted here on any thread. Publicly state that they are not acceptable and that the person making them are at best promoting a Republican victory even if unintentionally in November.

Any person repeatedly making these kind of comments or pledging to vote for McCain if their candidate is not the nominee should be revealed to be either a Republican or a tool of the Republicans.

Let us expose the Republican disrupters trying to use dirty tricks to disrupt the democratic process. They are enemies of free elections. They will stop at nothing... just look at the phone-jamming scandal in New Hampshire and the Siegelman railroad job in Alabama.

Nazi type tactics and language has no place in a democratic nation or in our Democratic Party.

Sincerely,

Stephen Crockett

Host of Democratic Talk Radio

Over the past few weeks, I have received some really stupid emails trying to get me to boycott the DNC financially over seating Florida and Michigan delegations to the Democratic convention. I believe this movement is a trojan horse operation being pushed by Republican trolls.
It smells like a Karl Rove type operation.

The financing of the Democratic National Committee should not be crippled as a result of the Clinton-Obama Presidential contest under any circumstances!

The current round of anti-McCain ads being aired by the Democratic National Committee is proof. They are excellent. As Democrats, we should all be helping to finance them if we want to win in November.

Here are a few suggestions.

If you receive an email urging a boycott of DNC donations, reply to the sender that they are helping the Republican Party and that you will be blocking all future emails from them. Then block them.

If you have a website that includes links to other sites, remove all links to sites that promote boycotting the DNC financially.

Make a small donation to the DNC instead of your favorite Presidential candidate this week. Show that you are a real Democrat!

Urge everyone on your email lists to read this post, copy it and send it to every Democrat they know.

Write the Presidential candidate you support and urge them to do a joint televised appeal for funds for the Democratic National Committee. A joint Clinton-Obama fundraising ad would certainly help strengthen the Democratic ticket in November at all levels regardless of eventual nominee.

Thanks,

Stephen Crockett

Host, Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com

Editor, Mid-Atlantic Labor.com http://www.midatlanticlabor.com

The idea being promoted by both John McCain and Hillary Clinton of canceling the federal gasoline tax for the summer is a terrible idea. It fails to address the real issue of runaway fuel prices. It has negative consequences for the safety of our roads and bridges. It is essentially a campaign stunt and distraction. The oil profiteers have already gobbled up any benefit consumers might gain from the cut far in advance of the proposed summer suspension.

Runaway fuel prices are largely the result of market manipulation by speculators and oil companies combined with a “nod and wink” approach to government regulation and law enforcement from the Bush Administration. We need serious government intervention instead of cosmetic window dressing.

Gasoline inventories are rising at the same time that prices are skyrocketing! Oil companies have been intentionally closing refineries to raise prices. The Bush administration has been taking huge quantities off the market by continuing to fill a strategic reserve when the federal government should be releasing the reserve to drive down the prices and breaking the power of speculators.

The federal taxes on fuel are a very tiny percentage of the total price. Gasoline prices rose nationally last month by nearly twice the amount of the federal gas tax. While the suspension of the gasoline tax sounds good, it does nothing but slow the price rise for a couple of weeks while gutting our ability to maintain our roads and bridges.

We already have bridges collapsing and citizens dying. Our transportation safety issue is really important. It is already in a crisis situation without following this irresponsible proposal. We need a huge increase in transportation infrastructure spending by the federal government instead of a dramatic decrease. We need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few years on rebuilding our national economic infrastructure. We should be training millions of new construction workers by giving our construction unions support for their apprenticeship and training programs. The money has to come from somewhere.

McCain and Clinton are pushing a proposal that is irresponsible and will not even occur under their terms if elected. Neither will be in the White House this summer.

There are some ideas that will help. Aggressive investigations and prosecutions in the oil industry are certainly in order. Illegal price manipulation is likely. Strengthening laws and penalties for market manipulation should be a top priority. All profits derived from illegal market manipulation should be surrendered to the federal government along with huge additional penalties. The law should immediately be changed to make this the standard.

All oil imports should be done through the federal government. The federal government should negotiate the price from a position of strength. Oil companies should not be able to drive up prices by bidding against competitors for imports and using the process as an excuse for price-gouging.

We need a strong “windfall profits tax” on the oil industry. This tax should be used to promote alternative energy and to subsidize the trucking industry fuel costs, which is driving up consumer inflation on other products like food.

Oil refinery closings should only be permitted by the federal government when they do not result in huge price increases. If necessary, the federal government should build their own refineries to supply the American military and feral government vehicles. We should end the Iraq War which is wasting huge quantities of fuel needed by the homeland.

If all else fails, the federal government should consider price controls on fuel and/or nationalizing the oil industry. The oil industry cannot be permitted to control the entire American economy for the benefit of the very, very few.

McCain and Clinton should stop playing politics with the gas tax issue. They should be aggressively pushing for alternative energy solutions like solar, wind, conservation, bio-fuels, Green jobs and technology along with much more federal regulation of the oil companies.


Written by Stephen Crockett (host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com and Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com http://www.midatlanticlabor.com). Mail: 698 Old Baltimore Pike, Newark, Delaware 19702. Phone: 443-907-2367.

Feel free to publish at no charge without prior approval.

Around PA In 90 Minutes-Citizen Journalists Report on PA Primary

FROM INVISIBILITY TO BEYOND


Special 90 minute "Voice of the Voters!" & "American Voices"

Starting at 7:30 PM ET Wednesday, April 23rd

1360 AM Greater Philadelphia & and on the Internet www.voiceofthevoters.org

Millions of Pennsylvanians sought to exercise their right to vote on Tuesday, yet the 90% who had to use state's voting machines were "voting blind." Nonetheless, Citizen activists hit the streets to watch the parts of the process that they could monitor.

In this 90-minute special edition of Voice of the Voters & American Voices , we'll ask:

--Why is Pennsylvania now being called the Invisible State; portents for the future?

--Were voters able to vote or turned away? Why?

--Was there any indication of "Operation Chaos"?

--What was impact of the so-called "fleeing voter"?

--Were machine breakdowns common and how were they handled? Lines?

--Were provisional and emergency ballots available?

--What "anomalies" did voters and poll watchers notice?

--What were voters most serious concerns both in voting and issues for 2008?

--What have we learned about the State of PA Elections and Potential Impact on November?

Guests will have been on the ground, gathering information, filming or handling phone calls and will present first hand knowledge of this vital State's Operation on Primary Day. a forecast of things to come?

Dr. Alan Brau, Lehigh Valley CVI

Dr. Richard King, Western PA, PA-VerifiedVoting.org

Holly Jacobson, VoterAction reports from Hotline & Legal Action

Marybeth Kuznik, VotePA, overview of the State

Michael Collins, "Scoop" Independent News

Paddy Shaffer and Marj Creech, Centre PA. Came in from Ohio Election Justice Campaign

Sara Haile-Mariam, Philadelphia & Suburbs. Representing Youth Activists around the State

Suzanne Erb, Philadelphia (also reporting on difficulties with Disability voting)

Lori Rosolowsky with special report on the "Story of Creekside" .. Disenfranchisement?

And several others will contribute their eyewitness experience as we continue to gather stories across the Keystone State

Join in this important dissection of how Pennsylvania handled the primary, key concerns and questions, hosted by Jim Strait with input from Mary Ann Gould. John Gideon of VotersUnite.Org will provide news update as well as his perspective of PA reports.

Listeners can call in questions live at 856-227-1360 and submit questions in advance at the Voice of the Voters! Website. Internet. Access also at http://wnjc.duxpond.com/

Archived Voice of the Voters! programs can be found at http://www.voiceofthevoters.org

Coalition for Voting Integrity