This summer, President George W. Bush will smile while jaunting up the stairs to Air Force One - his laughable presidency all but over - with not a care in the world.

For 13 hours, he'll lie on a couch in the airplane, drink pomegranate-flavored water and watch reruns of Texas Rangers games from the glory days of Nolan Ryan and Jose Canseco

Eventually, he'll land in Beijing, China, for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He'll pose and smile for photos with great Chinese leaders.

You'll definitely read about it in the newspaper, and so will people just like you all over the world; and you'll probably feel pretty good when you do. Like a bottle of cheap gin the whole globe can pass around, the Olympics somehow make it okay to forget for a little while.

This is helpful for most of us, but somewhat unfortunate for the Tibetan people, whose struggle against occupation has gone on for nearly 60 years

In 1951, the Chinese government annexed Tibet and declared it part of China. In 1959, an uprising resulted in the expulsion of the Dalai Lama; since that time he has run a "government in exile" based in India and become a martyr for global political rights.

On March 10, in honor of the 49th anniversary of China's great experiment in the abuse of state sovereignty, Tibetan monks began to protest en masse the continued demonization of the Dalai Lama and China's efforts to ethnically cleanse Tibetans.

China, for its part, pledged to "resolutely crush" those people. Within days, it launched a fresh military campaign in the region. It kicked out journalists and declared no quarter on religious figures.

Anyway, a generation later, as a reward for Chinese progress and a concession that China has established itself as a modern global player, it gets to host the Olympics!

Irony in such high doses should be fatal.

The delegate numbers, Obama 1850 Clinton 1696. Less than 200 between them. 154 pledge delegates to be exact.
Ah sorry Obama it takes 2,025 to win the nomination and you won't have that number going into the convention. So Obama pundits and sages can trash talk and whine all they want...boo hoo boo hoo. Senator Clinton is going all the way to the convention. Sorry NBC boys, Sister Hillary is not taking any baloney BS from you any time soon, and either am I.

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

I'm not ready to anoint the Junior Senator from Illinois
just quite yet thank you.

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.

Asher Speaks Live returns for Season 3 this Thursday, May 1st at 5:00pm ET / 4:00pm CT. We will have a special guest for the second half hour of the show and we will be taking your calls.

You will be able to listen to Asher Speaks Live online by going to www.blogtalkradio.com/asher. There you will be able to listen to the show live on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as listen to past shows.

As a reminder, you can vote once per day until June 30th to vote in the two polls that are located on the right side of the blog that is located at http://www.AsherHeimermann.com so let your voice be heard and vote!

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

I've signed up for the We Campaign because I believe that by working together, we can solve the climate crisis. Will you join me? Just click on the link below to sign up and add your voice to the million-plus call for an end to global warming

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The We Campaign is an effort launched by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to promote solutions to the climate crisis. It's an urgent issue, but the climate crisis is also solvable if we work together and unite our leaders around solutions like renewable power and enhanced energy efficiency. We can leave the next generation a healthy climate.

Once you have joined the We campaign, think about creating an account on My Community and join the We Action Team:

http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/group/WeActionTeam

This is a repost of a comment made earlier today. Wrote a post regardomg this another day.
Hillary is a hero and to be applauded for what she did and Bill should never have been so thoroughly investigated over something that the greatest percentage of our presidents have done. It is a taxpayers wasted money and is not grounds for impeachment. Bill was hounded and hounded and cornered. Lay off with the amoral crap unless you yourself can throw stones.
If you can stand to be judged then OK. You are perfect. Don't think there is one in our midst that can make that claim.
Earlier comment today:

I have posted in the past of a very dear friend who gave her husband an ultamatum after 20 years of infidelity. That after keeping their marriage going as well as the business which she continued to grow and expand and diversify. Also after their 4 children were grown and established in their own businesses. Now they are an extremely happy and close family and they will celebrate more than 40 yrs of marriage in Oct.
The women that do this to me are heroes indeed.
It is far easier to call it quits and stumble and put your children through such a feeling of insecurity than to go on and at one point in time it may work or may fail.
Is that a waste of life, I think not. He could have just as easily continued with his ways but he indeed loved her. Just like a lot of men he had real difficulties staying true to just one woman but did outgrow it.
Every time I think of Hillary and Bill and Chelsea I see a famiily that Hillary held together. I also see Bill as having reached that same point in life making a choice. I feel confident that Hillary also made that ultamatum.
Hillary is a strong and courageous woman indeed.
And I see them together and they display a warmth you can see. So quit with putting down their family.
Unless of course some of you have guilt issues and you want to throw the blame elsewhere.

So before hurling those stones think about what tomorrow may hold for you!!!! Never ever know......

I've signed up for the We Campaign because I believe that by working together, we can solve the climate crisis. Will you join me? Just click on the link below to sign up and add your voice to the million-plus call for an end to global warming

www.wecansolveit.org/join

The We Campaign is an effort launched by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to promote solutions to the climate crisis. It's an urgent issue, but the climate crisis is also solvable if we work together and unite our leaders around solutions like renewable power and enhanced energy efficiency. We can leave the next generation a healthy climate. Please add your voice by joining the We Campaign today:

www.wecansolveit.org/join

Back home after a couple of days out of town. Boy was the PA primary exciting or what? Did get a chance to watch the restults.
Did some catching up on notes and emails etc.
How has everyone been?
The long and the short great to be home and great to check in but will have to leave as quick.
Work tomorrow so that is up at 4AM.
Hey all of you be great to eachother and have a truly wonderful evening.
Judy B

Hillary Clinton should end her bid for the White House. Obama should offer her the Vice Presidency. Clinton should accept the offer. It would be a bitter pill for both to swallow but it is what both the Democratic Party and the American nation desperately needs. Neither Clinton nor Obama should place their personal ambition, pride or emotions ahead of the needs of the American people.

Clinton won a big victory in Pennsylvania but the election was tainted by the highly negative campaign and by serious election equipment and logistical flaws. At this point, she could easily withdraw with honor. Clinton is certainly not responsible for the defective voting equipment or the thousands of Republicans who switched their registrations in Pennsylvania to Democratic but were denied their right to cast even provisional ballots.

Brad Friedman of Brad Blog predicted in advance on his website and in an interview broadcast on my Democratic Talk Radio show that the election process in Pennsylvania was going to be a disaster logistically. He told our listening audience in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (WGPA SUNNY 1100AM) and our Internet audience that after the problems arose that the type of voting machines used in Pennsylvania made it impossible to fix errors likely to arise. The voting machines used made it impossible to verify the count or audit the results. Pennsylvania election laws and processes tainted Clinton’s victory through no fault of her own.

This writer believes she won big in Pennsylvania but the voting process was so bad that many voters will always doubt the size of that victory.

Regardless of the Pennsylvania win, Clinton has almost zero chance of gaining the Democratic Presidential nomination without changing the nominating rules to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida selected in unfair primary elections. Even with those delegates counted, Clinton has very little chance of gaining the nomination. It would take a nearly complete sweep of the remaining election contests in places like North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, Puerto Rico, Guam and Idaho along with gaining most of the Super Delegates. Basically, it would take a whole series of miracles for her to gain the nomination and place her in a very weak position in terms of defeating McCain in the Fall.

Counting on a series of miracles to win a nomination that would split the Democratic Party in half is a pretty poor campaign strategy. Staying in the race would cast Clinton in a Democratic spoiler role in the minds of the American people should it result in a McCain victory in November. It would ruin her place in history.

A McCain victory would be an absolute disaster for the American nation. It would be basically a third term for Bush Republicanism and the insane policies that have wrecked the American economy. It would mean a foreign policy of endless, pointless, bloody wars. Make no mistake about it, John McCain is a war-monger who has no clue about how to run an economy.

McCain would pack our federal courts with the same kind of partisan, ideologically driven, Far Right judges that Bush appointed. Helping to elect McCain would gut the Bill of Rights and essentially destroy American Democracy. McCain would be both stubborn and inept in the White House just like Bush.

McCain is and always has been a tool of Corporate forces in politics- just like Bush. He and his wife are likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars although the so-called “straight talker” has refused to expose their full family finances. McCain is hiding his conflicts of interests and financially self-serving political position by hiding behind his wife! It is shameful and dishonest.

Electing McCain would mean millions more Americans would lose their homes, their savings and their jobs. It would mean the near collapse of the American dollar, the almost total destruction of America as a manufacturing nation and the end of our military dominance be