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You might find this week's booking photos of interest. MORE PHOTOS HERE

The price of regular at a Shell gas station in Petworth gleamed defiantly in the midday sun: $3.91 a gallon. But unlike the customers rolling up to the station's pumps this week, resigned to the fact that their wallets were about to take a beating, Rocky Twyman and company had a plan to bring that number tumbling down. They would ask God to do it. "Our pockets are empty, but we're going to hold on to God!" Twyman, a community organizer from Rockville, said as he and seven other people formed a semicircle, held hands and sang, pleading for divine...

A year after Jimmy Carter lost his re-election race to Ronald Reagan, Hamilton Jordan, his former White House chief of staff, sat down for a lengthy interview with scholars at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Last week, after hearing the news of Jordan's death, friends at the center sent me a transcript of that 27-year-old interview. As they predicted, it was of intense interest for current politics, and particularly on the challenge facing Barack Obama. The main theme of Jordan's interview was this intriguing observation: "Only because of the fragmentation that had taken place"...

Anybody listening to Hannity right now? Minority Leader Boehner is on right now. He is pathetic and shows why the GOP is going to be in the minority for a very long time.

Tomorrow evening we will know the outcome of the Democratic primaries in two important states that could decide the political fates of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In Indiana, a primarily white state, we will know whether white voters, who are close to 75 percent of the population of the U.S., accept Senator Obama's explanation of why, after first stating, "I can no more disown him [Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother," he now rejects Wright after Wright's appearance before the NAACP and the...

How do they do it? How do the Democrats manage to squander repeatedly and with such ease the chance of a lifetime? What inverse alchemy have they created that turns the gold bullion of electoral opportunity into the base metal of political oblivion? Eight years of George Bush, an unpopular war and a recession have handed the Democrats their best chance, not merely of winning their first presidential election in 12 years, but of achieving a rare, once-in-a- generation transformational shift in American politics. Four fifths of the American public think the country is on the wrong track. The President...

John McCain knows a lot less about foreign policy than he'd have us believe.This, anyway, is the impression that's been growing in recent weeks, not least because of much-discussed New York Times story published recently that painted a growing divide in his campaign between "pragmatists" and "neoconservatives." The candidate reportedly lacks firm ideological convictions, so battle for "McCain's soul" may be in the offing. And it's true: Despite his decades of supposed national security experience, it's difficult to stick an "-ism" on the tail of McCain's approach to world affairs. He's been one of the president's most fervent backers on...

When it comes to racial issues, the 2008 Democrat primary has been lowered to the most politically correct campaign in history. So low that it has smudged the lens in the way we look at both of the Democrats’ candidates. Political correctness or “PC” -- a clothesline tool typically used as a wedge issue against Republicans -- has backfired. To steal a phrase from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, PC is “coming home to roost” for Democrats. Purdue University political science professor Bert Rockman says we need to thicken our skins when it comes to race. “Why did anybody take umbrage...

Democratic leaders are becoming increasingly worried about the long-term consequences of the drawn-out and contentious presidential nomination race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In the past few weeks a number of prominent Democratic elected officials, including Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, have called on Hillary Clinton to consider ending her campaign in the near future on the grounds that by staying in the race she is damaging the party's chances of winning the presidency in November. Pundits and journalists have also argued that the extended nomination battle between Clinton and Obama is allowing...

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former President Bill Clinton are making very direct arguments to Democratic superdelegates, starkly insisting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., cannot win a general election against presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Sources with direct knowledge of the conversation between Sen. Clinton and Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., prior to the Governor's endorsement of Obama say she told him flatly, "He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win." Richardson, who served in President Clinton's cabinet, disagreed. At a rally in Oregon, standing next to Obama, Richardson insisted, "My great affection and admiration for...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 60 protesters opposed to the U.S. Federal Reserve's help in bailing out Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC - News) entered the lobby of the investment bank's Manhattan headquarters on Wednesday, demanding assistance for struggling homeowners. Demonstrators organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America chanted "Help Main Street, not Wall Street" and entered the lobby without an invitation for around half an hour before being escorted out by police. "There are no provisions for homeowners in this deal. There are people out there struggling who need help," said Detria Austin, an organizer at NACA, an advocacy group...

TORONTO In from the cold they come, gangly young men and graying grandfathers alike, filling a downtown church with the kind of polite anticipation more befitting an afternoon wedding than an antiwar rally. ...Across Canada, the remnants of a lost counterculture are rising up again as hundreds of aging draft dodgers reluctantly leave the quiet comforts of their anonymous lives to help an estimated 200 Iraq war deserters who fled north with no promise of asylum...."You're being stop-lossed!"Phil McDowell tried to absorb his wife's frantic news in June 2006 that the Army was rescinding his discharge. Iraq had left him...

It is perhaps the hottest topic in politics today. Sure, the dominant media will try to play up the shaky economy, in order to help bolster the chances of Democrats at the polls come November and the war in Iraq, though less of a political football of late, is certainly important, but illegal immigration, by far, is the most controversial subject in America today. Depending on which poll one may read, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe the flow of illegal immigrants into the nation via our border with Mexico must be stopped. In addition, many Americans detested the idea...

WHAT WILL HILLARY DO IF SHE LOSES THE NOMINATION? 1. resign from the senate and join Bill as a roving good will ambassador. 2. Be a good Democrat , campain for Obama and stay a Senator for life. 3. tacitly endorse Obama, secretly plot against him, hope McCain wins and try again in 2012. 4. Divorce Bill and move in with Ellen Degeneres. I vote #3

Hillary Clinton has blown an almost sure shot at the Democratic presidential nomination. Having surrendered the lead to Obama, she is not likely ever to regain it. It is a fantasy that the Ohio and Texas primaries will be a “firewall” to contain the flames of enthusiasm for Obama and reverse her defeats of February. Just as with Rudy Giuliani's supposed Florida firewall, Hillary's will crumble as Obama's momentum carries him forward to the nomination. Before Hillary lost her first primary or caucus, she lost the dialogue with the Obama campaign vis-a-vis the totally misguided decision to focus her message...

Story.

Hillary Clinton has blown an almost sure shot at the Democratic presidential nomination. Having surrendered the lead to Obama, she is not likely ever to regain it. It is a fantasy that the Ohio and Texas primaries will be a "firewall" to contain the flames of enthusiasm for Obama and reverse her defeats of February. Just as with Giuliani's supposed Florida firewall, Hillary's will crumble as Obama's momentum carries him forward to the nomination. Before Hillary lost her first primary or caucus, she lost the dialogue with the Obama campaign vis-à-vis the totally misguided decision to focus her message on...

EL PASO, Texas - Trying to overcome a string of losses and a staff shake-up, Hillary Rodham Clinton sought new energy Tuesday night from a boisterous crowd of about 12,000 in a state she hopes will provide a rebound in her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton, whose rallies had been overshadowed by rival Barack Obama's huge crowds, arrived at the packed University of Texas at El Paso basketball arena as voters were giving Obama victories in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. But her sights were set on the March 4 Texas and Ohio primaries and on President Bush....

In the 38 elections since the first Republican convention chose John Charles Frémont to carry their 1856 presidential campaign, only 3 Republicans who served in the Senate ever got elected to the Presidency. And only Warren Gamaliel Harding won every Presidential election in which he contested. Elected in 1920 on a platform of content-free Senatorial blather, he perished before the unraveling of the incredible scandals of his Administration and thus didn't bear the consequences personally. No other Senator boasted his perfect record (1-0) in Presidential elections. Senator Benjamin Harrison narrowly won election in 1888 and thereby became the only Senator...

Ron Paul is Ross Perot with a bad hairpiece

As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president. After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me. Today I have made a different choice. Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The...

Why Do People Support Underdogs And Find Them So Appealing? ScienceDaily (Dec. 19, 2007) — In a series of studies, researchers from the University of South Florida tested the scope of people's support for those who are expected to lose, seeking to understand why people are drawn to the Rocky Balboas and the Davids (versus Goliaths) of the world. Using both sports and political examples, the researchers* asked study participants to react to various scenarios presenting different competitors with an advantage or disadvantage. For instance, in one study using the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, the participants were given the same...

skip to main | skip to sidebar Saturday, November 3, 2007 Pride & Prejudice: What does 'Yankee' mean to you? Southerners reserve three insults for outlanders and assorted other pathetic creatures. They are: "Bless your heart" "Y'all ain't from around here, are you?" "Yankee" This blog is barely two weeks old, but it has already taken a few pot-shots at some sacred cows, such as "bait-and-wait" deer-hunting, litterbugs and low expectations in some local schools. The ensuing conversations have largely been delightfully rambunctious, but a few visitors have registered their disagreement by simply invoking the "Yankee" Doctrine: You ain't one...

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says to be successful in the general election, the Republican Party needs to put forth a nominee who is "pro-life, pro-family, and pro-Second Amendment." Among other things focusing on family issues, Romney has unveiled a plan to promote adoption. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney says while members of the liberal wing of the GOP are gravitating around former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, members of the conservative movement "are still deciding" who to support. Romney says he was surprised that Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson officially backed Rudy Giuliani yesterday, but was also caught off-guard...

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 982 H R 976 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 18-Oct-2007 1:17 PM QUESTION: Passage, Objections of the President Notwithstanding BILL TITLE: Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act ----------------Yeas Nays PRES NV Democratic 229 2 2 Republican 44 154 2 Independent --------------TOTALS 273 156 4 ---- YEAS 273 --- Abercrombie Ackerman Allen Altmire Andrews Arcuri Baca Baird Baldwin Barrow Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Berry Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Bono Boren Boswell Boucher Boyd (FL) Boyda (KS) Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown, Corrine Buchanan Butterfield Capito Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carney Castle Castor Chandler Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn...

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on why he is running for President. He was speaking to the Des Moines Register Editorial Board.

Beat the Mets, beat the Mets, Last place teams defeat the Mets. Hanging sliders, minor-league speed, Guaranteed to waste a seven run lead. Because the Met bullpen keeps fading away, October baseball won't be at Shea. Mota...Sosa..., Every game is now in doubt. Can anyone who's on this staff, Get three men out?

A place to talk goof about the 2007 emmys

A native Californian's recent visit to Egypt becomes one of religious discovery and cultural disillusionment. ___ Friday morning came, and the broad-shouldered young African American made his way to the sedated city's ancient quarters. He walked the streets with the determined gait of a football receiver to Al Azhar Mosque, arriving just as the muezzin's call to prayer summoned the faithful. Suddenly, the outgoing Californian ceased his banter and gaped, awestruck, at the intricately carved minarets reaching for the heavens, the browns, reds, greens and blues interwoven into masterful calligraphy. Salahudin Ali was a long way from the drab office...

OAKS BLUFF, Mass. (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to her favorite family vacation spot Saturday to raise money for her presidential campaign at a celebrity-studded event where she took some pointed swipes at President Bush. Clinton—accompanied by her husband and their daughter Chelsea—smiled broadly and swayed to the music as singer Carly Simon and her two children, Ben and Sally Taylor, sang "Devoted to You" for a Martha's Vineyard crowd of more than 2,000. Simon, along with actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, showered the Clintons with praise and predicted the senator from New York will be elected...

Between 2000 and 2006, a specter haunted the community of fundamentalist Democrats. Members of this community looked around and observed their moral and intellectual superiority. They observed that their policies were better for the middle classes. And yet the middle classes did not support Democrats. They tended to vote, in large numbers, for the morally and intellectually inferior party, the one, moreover, that catered to the interests of the rich. How could this be? Serious thinkers set to work, and produced a long shelf of books answering this question. Their answers tended to rely on similar themes. First, Democrats lose...

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has decided not to campaign for any of the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates, because none of the politicians in the running "inspire" him. The Blood Diamond star, 32, was a staunch advocate of Democratic hopeful Senator John Kerry during 2004's presidential election and even traveled across 14 states to rally support and raise funds for him. But DiCaprio admits the frontrunners for 2008's election - Democratic candidates Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul - have yet to catch his attention with their environmental policies. He says, "I'm still on the fence about it,...

The Post's recent series on Dick Cheney's vice presidency certainly got my attention. SNIPBut it wasn't until Jimmy Carter assumed the presidency that the vice presidency took on a substantive role. Carter saw the office as an underused asset and set out to make the most of it. He gave me an office in the West Wing, unimpeded access to him and to the flow of information, and specific assignments at home and abroad. He asked me, as the only other nationally elected official, to be his adviser and partner on a range of issues.SNIP Our relationship depended on trust,...

Former US veep Mondale accuses Cheney of power grab Jul 29 02:01 PM US/Eastern Vice President Dick Cheney has presided over an unprecedented power grab during his six years in the White House, former Vice President Walter Mondale wrote in a rare, scathing critique Sunday. Mondale, the former number two to Democratic President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, in an opinion piece appearing Sunday in the Washington Post newspaper, fingered Cheney as the chief transgressor in a White House guilty of "great excess" and "exceeding its authority." He wrote that since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, "Cheney set...

Just as our troops are fighting the terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to face them here at home, I watched the Democratic Party presidential debate on Monday so you wouldn't need to let those egregious people into your own living rooms. (Although, obviously, our troops in Iraq face deadly duty, while I only face deadly dull duty.) But I did learn a few things. For the first time Monday, CNN provided us with sustained close-up shots of Sen. John Edwards' haircut, and I can now understand why he paid between $400-$1,200 a cut. At middle range, it looks...

NEW YORK A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she...

A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she once was...

Pentagon sees 5 million child terrorists in Iraq Next generation could join jihad if reconstruction fails Posted: July 15, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern The Pentagon warns that if U.S. reconstruction efforts fail in Iraq, punishing unemployment could drive the country's next generation of workers to join the jihad. In that event, America and the West potentially would face an army of as many as 5 million young terrorists. Right now, Iraqis suffer from 50 percent unemployment, and the prospects are especially grim for the nation's youth, noted Paul Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense at the Pentagon. Iraq is largely a...

For Democrats of a certain age, there is no figure more haunting than George McGovern, who ran for president pleading, "Come home, America," but instead was sent home himself with just 38 percent of the vote. Among those who worry that the lessons of 1972 may still spell trouble for Democrats in 2008 is none other than … George McGovern. He is 84 now, is as opposed to the Iraq war as he was to the one in Vietnam -- and is paying close attention to the race for president. "I'm not sure that an anti-war Democrat can win," McGovern...

The NAACP is needed now more than ever because the Bush administration has done little to support blacks, the civil rights organization's national chairman said Sunday as its 98th annual convention opened. From the administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina to the war in Iraq and immigration issues, Bush has seen his presidency questioned, Julian Bond, board chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told an audience of about 3,000. The number of Americans living in poverty has increased by more than 5 million, to 37 million, during the Bush administration, Bond said. "And the gap...

Remember all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Democrat takeover of both the House and Senate? How excited they were because, finally, things would change. Speaker Pelosi was cranked up and ready for battle with the Republicans — her facelift set at DefCon-5. The Senate was ready to take advantage of their slim margin and use every ounce of their political skill and media pull to keep the fact that an ex-Klansman was third in line for the presidency from making headlines, while at the same time having the gall to keep calling Republicans racist. Now, mere months later, judging...

MEXICO CITY — Opinion makers and migrant advocates in Mexico said today that the collapse of U.S. immigration reform plans is a loss for Mexican workers, U.S. employers and anti-terrorism efforts. U.S. President Bush's plan to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants while fortifying the border collapsed in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. "This is very bad news for Mexican migrants in the U.S.," said Jorge Bustamante, special rapporteur to the human rights commission for migrants at the United Nations and former president of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in the city of Tijuana, across the border...

Here is a spreadsheet detailing the votes on the immigration bill and its amendments. Excel 2003: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ou6kwa Excel 2007: http://www.sendspace.com/file/21i5ps It contains some statistics as well as contact information for each senator - please call or fax to let them know how you feel! The statistics at the right and bottom provide some add'l analysis to help focus your letters, emails, calls, etc.

Last Friday's precipitous stock market plunge, with the Dow Jones dropping 185 points, is all about Washington's continued war on prosperity. The latest assault comes courtesy of House Democrat Sander Levin. Late last week, he introduced a bill that essentially would abolish the 15 percent capital-gains tax preference for risk investing, and raise it by 20 percentage points to the 35 percent corporate and personal rate. This goes beyond an earlier tax attack on a public offering by the Blackstone Group, and would slam into all private partnerships, including buyout funds, hedge funds, venture-capital firms, real estate partnerships, and oil-and-gas...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Majority Democrats in the Senate are forcing their Republican colleagues on the record about whether embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should keep his job. No one is predicting that a symbolic resolution expressing no confidence in Gonzales will survive even the test vote Monday. Most Republicans are likely to vote no, dismissing the whole exercise as a ploy to embarrass President Bush. At a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, the last stop on a weeklong visit to Europe, the president reaffirmed his support for Gonzales, a longtime friend and legal adviser. "They can have their votes of...

Watching the Democratic presidential debate this week on CNN, I was reminded of the famous line spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars" when he approached the Mos Eisley Spaceport with young Luke Skywalker and two droids. "You won't ever find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy," he said. There they were: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson – clueless, shameless, principle-less, truthless. The contest within this hive of scum and villainy is of modest interest to Americans only because the current occupant of the White...

After enlisting in the Minnesota Army National Guard, the Kamunens had second thoughts and didn't return to basic training after Christmas. ________________________________ CARLTON, MINN. -- Luke Kamunen began to wonder if he'd made a mistake the moment he arrived for basic training. He was still in the airport at Fort Jackson, S.C., with other members of his Minnesota National Guard unit, when an officer reprimanded him publicly for leaving a paper cup on his seat in the airport. "I was thinking, is this what it's going to be like the whole time?" Luke said. "I'm not even on the bus...

RealClearPolitics Poll Averages SM Congressional Job ApprovalPoll Date Approve Disapprove Spread RCP Average 05/07 - 05/23 32.6% 58.0% -25.4% RealClearPolitics Poll Averages SM President Bush Job ApprovalPoll Date Approve Disapprove Spread RCP Average 05/07 - 05/23 32.8% 61.7% -28.9%