Following Bush's lead, McCain lets Bin Laden make Iraq "the battle site"

With that lifetime of experience we keep hearing that John McCain has, you'd think he'd know better than to let Osama Bin Laden set the terms of the battle and choose the battle site. But, like Bush, that's what McCain has done:



It's going to be fun to see what else Jed can do on video to McCain. Read More......

Results are coming in from the Texas County Conventions

The next step of the delegate selection is underway in Texas today. Burnt Orange Report is monitoring the results from the Democratic County Conventions in Texas today -- and doing their usual stellar work.

That crew is going to turn Texas blue.

The Associated Press reports that there is, of course, Clinton generated controversy. The Clinton campaign's supporters (not the Clinton campaign, wink, wink) are challenging delegates. No worries, Terry McAuliffe is on the scene in Texas to make sure it's all under control:

Many of the challenges were brought by Clinton supporters questioning the validity of Obama delegates. The Clinton campaign said it wouldn't lodge any challenges itself but that it was helping supporters who would.

Obama was also lodging challenges in some counties regarding the complext formulas used to determine delegate counts, said campaign spokesman Josh Earnest.

"This math gets pretty complicated pretty quickly," he said.

But Earnest said that unlike the Clinton campaign, the Obama campaign wasn't challenging the seating of particular delegates.

"They're engaged in a coordinated strategy to challenge our delegates and we're not," he said. "It's disappointing to see the Clinton campaign throw up these obstacles."

Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe said Saturday as he drove between Democratic conventions in Georgetown and Waco to rev up Clinton supporters that the Clinton campaign has "not raised any of the challenges. A lot of our supporters have."

The Clinton campaign had previously said it was aiding supporters with legal advice and guidance on their challenges, state party officials said earlier this week. So the campaign is taking a behind-the-scenes approach, using its delegate supporters as the complaint filers, they said.

How clever. We're not doing it, our supporters, who we trained, are doing it. That's so...how should can I say this...that's so Clintonian. Read More......

28,000+ have signed the FEC complaint against McCain so far

Earlier this week, Jane Hamsher delivered a complaint against John McCain to the Federal Elections Commission. McCain, the one-time self-proclaimed champion of campaign finance reform, is now blatantly breaking the campaign finance laws. My post explaining the crimes -- and video of Jane delivering the complaint are here.

Last night, Jane reported that 26,000 activists have already signed the FEC complaint against John McCain over the past few days. Over night, the number hit surpassed 28,000. Let's try to reach 30,000 by Monday. Sign here.

I'm particularly interested in hitting 30,000 because on Monday, Rev. Lennox Yearwood and I will be delivering the signatures to the FEC offices in DC. So if you haven't yet signed the petition, please do. I'm honored to bring all your signatures to the FEC so we can finally bust McCain for his campaign finance crimes.

If you have signed already, get your friends to do it, too. Firedoglake makes it easy. Read More......

Senator (and Superdelegate) Patrick Leahy: Hillary can't win, she should drop out

Did you ever have a dinner party where one guest couldn't figure out that the party was over and they should leave. Read More......

Bush: Basra "defining moment in the history of a free Iraq"

CNN analysis: "not going well." Mission Accomplished all over again. Read More......

Sydney kicks off Earth Hour 2008

Sure it's a small thing, but it's still a great idea.

The lights on the arch of Harbour Bridge were turned off at 8 p.m., followed shortly by the shells of the Opera House and other city landmarks. Most businesses and homes were already dark as Sydney residents embraced their second annual Earth Hour with candlelight dinners, beach bonfires and even a green-powered outdoor movie.

Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Check out this week's poem, The Guesthouse, by Rumi, a "13th century Persian muslim poet, jurist, and theologian."

After you have a moment of zen from the poem, experience outrage from this next story. I just saw an interview on CNN with Jim Shank. Wal-Mart is suing his brain damaged wife to recoup money she received as a settlement for her injuries, which were caused by a car accident. At the time, she was working for Wal-Mart, so her health care plan covered the costs. Apparently, Wal-Mart has that option, under the terms of the health care policy agreement it had with Mrs. Shank, to recover its costs if she got a settlement from a third-party. But, does Wal-Mart, the corporate behemoth, really need the dough? Oh, the Shank's son was killed in Iraq last year, too. Nice work, Wal-Mart. Be proud.

All right. Have at it. Read More......

Dalida Arabic remix - Salma ya Salama

The video is kitsch but I still like the remix and love this song. Dalida may have been one of the first multi-cultural singers to hit the world stage. This is a lovely song and a staple for any party in France...at least if you are a certain age. With the release of the hate-filled video by the Dutch extremist this week, it made me think about this song and crossing cultural barriers. It may be obvious to many, but for goodness sakes, people are people around the world. Good or bad isn't limited to any geography or religion. I've met wonderful people in the Middle East and I've met hate filled people in America and the other way around. Anyway, if you want to hear the other versions (French, Arabic, German, Italian) they're all on YouTube. Enjoy. Read More......

German chancellor Merkel to boycott Olympic ceremony

Merkel joins Poland and Czech Republic leaders who will not attend the opening ceremonies. These leaders are all people who grew up under Soviet domination so they all have first hand experience with a bully regime maintaining power over another country. Will this tip the balance for other EU leaders to boycott? The more important question is whether China will stick to its old ways or join the modern world in terms of both business and respect for human rights. They can do as they like but it's their choice. It is also everyone else's choice not condone China's actions. Read More......