How will McCain Choose his Running Mate?

When John McCain eliminated viable competitors for the Republican presidential nomination last Tuesday, he set off the next round of parlor games among pundits and political junkies: Pick the VP.

On Friday McCain was asked about his criteria for picking a vice president. He responded:

“The process will begin and the fundamental principle behind any selection of a running mate would be whether that person is fully prepared to take over and share your values, your principles, your philosophy, and your priorities. I think that's the first and only real criteria for the selection of a running mate.”

McCain also dismissed the notion that he must pick someone for geographic balance. He explained that, “From a practical standpoint, I think that former President Clinton and former Vice President Gore showed that you don't have to be regionally different. I think that America is such now, that the quote, regional differences, don't play the role that maybe they did in earlier times.”

His choice of running mate is going to be a make or break issue for me. If he goes left for a running mate - I'll know that his speech at CPAC was all sun shine being blown up our collective butts.

Now Hillary . . . . I can just imagine her picking Bill as her running mate. Wouldn't that be fun!

Obama - he'd have to pick Jesus as his running mate for me to even consider voting for him - and then I would only be CONSIDERING it.

BUYING AN ELECTION

Seeking Superdelegates

As the Democratic Party's superdelegates decide whether to support Clinton or Obama, will they take into account the $904,200 they've received from the candidates?

By Lindsay Renick Mayer

February 14, 2008 | (Figures in this story have been adjusted to reflect Sen. Ted Kennedy's contributions from the two candidates, which were overlooked in the original posting. Changes are in bold.) At this summer's Democratic National Convention, nearly 800 members of Congress, state governors and Democratic Party leaders could be the tiebreakers in the intense contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. If neither candidate can earn the support of at least 2,025 delegates in the primary voting process, the decision of who will represent the Democrats in November's presidential election will fall not to the will of the people but to these "superdelegates"—the candidates' friends, colleagues and even financial beneficiaries. Both contenders will be calling in favors.

And while it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials who are superdelegates have received at least $904,200 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama, who narrowly leads in the count of pledged, "non-super" delegates, has doled out more than $698,200 to superdelegates from his political action committee, Hope Fund, or campaign committee since 2005. Of the 82 elected officials who had announced as of Feb. 12 that their superdelegate votes would go to the Illinois senator, 35, or 43 percent of this group, have received campaign contributions from him in the 2006 or 2008 election cycles, totaling $232,200. In addition, Obama has been endorsed by 52 superdelegates who haven't held elected office recently and, therefore, didn't receive campaign contributions from him.

Clinton does not appear to have been as openhanded. Her PAC, HILLPAC, and campaign committee appear to have distributed $205,500 to superdelegates. Only 12 percent of her elected superdelegates, or 13 of 109 who have said they will back her, have received campaign contributions, totaling about $95,000 since 2005. An additional 128 unelected superdelegates support Clinton, according to a blog tracking superdelegates and their endorsements, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch.

. . . .

Welp - it seems that dems are still buying elections like the used to back in the old days! Trust the "party of the people" to be deeply entrenched in the graft and spoils system that marked the founding of their party. Jackson set the tone - and it seems that the democratic party he founded has not been able to deviate from that melody.

Iraqi Security Forces

[Baghdad] One of the most important measures of progress in Iraq is the development of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). In order for our troops to draw down without squandering the tremendous recent gains, Iraqis must be able to govern and protect their own country. There are conflicting reports concerning the ISF’s capability and reliability. Understanding that this is a complex issue which depends to a great extent on projections, predictions and interpretations rather than hard facts, I will describe the situation as I see it. . .

The ISF are comprised of the Army, Air Force, Navy, ISOF (Iraqi Special Operations Forces), Police, National Police, Department of Border Enforcement and Points of Entry. Iraqi and Coalition leaders have determined that the total force should number 600,000 to 650,000 personnel.

Speaking of surges, between June and December 2007, according to MNSTC-I, the ISF increased by:

• • 36,300 Iraqi Army soldiers. (Personal observation: The IA improves month by month. The Iraqi Army already is a capable maneuver force, proving lethal against al Qaeda.)
  • 2,000 new support troops.
  • 300 new Air Force personnel. The op tempo increased by about 1,000%
  • 300 missions per week.
  • 1,500 new Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF). (Our Special Forces have told me ISOF is very good by regional standards.)
  • 30,400 new Iraqi Police. (This includes members joining from the “Sons of Iraq.”)
  • 7,400 new National Police. (I get a bad feeling about the National Police. I see them frequently and was at a meeting with American soldiers from 1-4CAV, National Police, and CLCs just yesterday on Monday, 12 February. On a local level, in South Baghdad, I do see improvement with National Police. However, many police in this Shia-dominated force are believed to be corrupt and/or sectarian. Dubik insists the NP are improving, and more Sunnis are being hired, although this contrasts with media reporting and my own observations. I believe LTG Dubik, but I work for the reader and must see this with my own eyes before I can report this as fact.)
  • 1,300 new Department of Border Enforcement and Port of Entry personnel . .

If you have never read Micheal Yons blog - consider subscribing to it. He's actually got his feet on the ground in Iraq and is reporting from the field not the green zone.

Wrong Paul

Ron Paul’s candidacy is something of an enigma. His impressive fundraising and his legions of dedicated volunteers suggest that he could be among the front-runners in contention for the Republican nomination. Yet his national poll numbers hover consistently just above the margin of error, and on Super Tuesday, he finished last in 17 of 21 contests, including California, where he lost to a candidate who had already withdrawn from the race. He admits he has little hope of winning the nomination.

"Ron Paul" is the most searched term on our site, and until recently, those searches revealed only that Paul had participated in a whole lot of Republican debates. We applied our efforts to candidates with odds of becoming the nominee.

Yet Paul says he will not drop out of the race, and indeed talks of a perpetual campaign. In a message to his followers Feb. 8, he said:

Paul: If I may quote Trotsky of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked.

Take a look at what FactCheck.org has to say about much of Pauls claims.

Gangs target MySpace to recruit members

Susan Manheimer, the San Mateo police chief near Redwood City, northern California, told local television news that gang leaders, often those just released from prison, were using sites such as MySpace and YouTube as a way to reach children.

"We're seeing … the resurgence of some of the gang members coming back from prison looking more and more to those middle schoolers and the younger kids to recruit them," said Ms Manheimer, who is also in charge of the San Mateo County gang taskforce.

Young people would download gang insignia on their mobile phones or music with lyrics that refer to gangs by name such as the Norteños, a coalition of Latino gangs in Northern California, she said.

Ms Manheimer added that children would get into online discussions that sometimes escalated to vicious threats.

"The type of profiling they're doing of themselves (by downloading gang-related content) makes them prey to predators and also at odds with and challenging other gangs," she told CBS 5 local news.

Be aware - and know what your kids are looking at.

Ann Coulter - Doing what she does best.

Archbishop endorces Sharia????

In the mean time . . . .




Notice what the muslim man says - and notice the how Muslims are already getting special privileges under British law.

Mentally Disabled Female Homicide Bombers

BAGHDAD — Two mentally retarded women strapped with remote-control explosives — and possibly used as unwitting homicide bombers — brought carnage Friday to two pet bazaars, killing at 91 people in the deadliest day since Washington flooded the capital with extra troops last spring.

The coordinated blasts — coming 20 minutes apart in different parts of the city — appeared to reinforce U.S. claims Al Qaeda in Iraq may be increasingly desperate and running short of able-bodied men willing or available for such missions.

But they also served as a reminder that Iraqi insurgents are constantly shifting their strategies in attempts to unravel recent security gains around the country. Women have been used in ever greater frequency in homicide attacks.

The twin attacks at the pet markets, however, could mark a disturbing use of unknowing agents of death.

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Iraq's chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said the women had Down syndrome and may not have known they were on homicide missions. He said the bombs were detonated by remote control.

This tells me how badly things are going for the terrorists in Iraq currently. I guess they can't find men willing to die for their 72 virgins anymore . . . . .

Abiotic Oil

Sterling's Preface:
There is a substantial body of evidence to support this theory. That does not negate, however, the quest for getting away from dependence on fossil fuels. The greenhouse gasses produced by the burning of such will continue to be a pressing matter that must be addressed. Now that the world has achieved a consciousness about how we treat our planet, this news that we are not so far from depleting our oil reserves is a welcome breath of fresh air, removing some of the panic effect that can foster unrest.

Supporting Evidence, Briefly

• Oil being discovered at 30,000 feet, far below the 18,000 feet where organic matter is no longer found.
• Wells pumped dry later replenished.
• Volume of oil pumped thus far not accountable from organic material alone according to present models.
• In Situ production of methane under the conditions that exist in the Earth's upper mantle.

Propaganda’s Victory: The Two Big Lies

MUST READ ARTICLE!

Here in the United States we have witnessed the dismantling of an entire education system, from kindergarten through university, as its purpose has been redefined. The function of schooling is no longer seen to be the transmission of the culture of Western civilization, the history of its achievements and struggles, its literature and arts, of the evolution of the institutional framework of democracy and the cultivation of the skills required to understand and extend it. The function of the schools is now generally agreed to be achieving social change.

Identity Politics at its Worst

Sometimes, it's hard not to want to gloat!

Ted Kennedy made headlines over the weekend for endorsing Barack Obama for president. The New York state chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) responded with this (hat tip: Politico):

"Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy's endorsement of Hillary Clinton's opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, the Family Leave and Medical Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills. We have thanked him for his ardent support of many civil rights bills, BUT women are always waiting in the wings.

"And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He's picked the new guy over us. He's joined the list of progressive white men who can't or won't handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton (they will of course say they support a woman president, just not "this" one).

This election cycle is proving to be an interesting one. The press has managed to drive every conservative candidate from the race - leaving us with nothing but leftist choices. Now - they are eating their own to see who will end up on top.