Here's video of McCain at a town hall meeting listing all the great stuff about the new GI Bill.

That's pretty interesting considering he actively opposed the bill.  See him on the campaign trail speaking out against it here.

Is this story old? I never heard of it until today. If it isn't old why isn't it front page? Obama and Dems/the left in general need to hit McCain on this.

He's on CSPAN right now reading them off.
cspan.org should have the live stream

He was my first choice as dem nominee for pres.
Better late than never? Never gets support?

I'm interested in the opinions of African Americans now that she has given this speech and suspended her campaign. Did you see her race baiting during the campaign? If so, did her speech today leave you feeling giddy like most people around TPM? Why or Why not?


Personally, I can't forget what she did with her campaign. I won't forget Bill's actions either. I don't think she has done anything to repair the breech she created between herself and the African American community. From her campaign's embracing of Fox News and Melon Scaife to her "hardworking White American" remarks to her campaign's attempt to stop people from voting or caucusing in Texas, she proved to be none of what she claimed and all of what she said she hated. This speech undid that? I missed some huge part of it I guess.
 

Ambinder says Hillary has changed her concession to Saturday.
Andy Sullivan thinks its because Friday is the anniversary of RFK's assassination.

Im sure this will keep Rachel Maddow guessing she'll never drop out. (I love Rachel)

McCain's on tv right now from Louisiana making his case for "the right kind of change". He opened with his feminist pledge -"I have 3 daughters" and "Hillary didn't receive the credit she deserved". He finished that part of it with "I'm proud to call her my friend". From there he is painting a picture of bringing the right safe change that we need as if he isn't a part of the reason why things need to be changed. He doesn't even sound like a republican. This Jekyl and Hyde routine is pretty good. People who don't know anything about him will easily get duped.
Obama needs to bash him tonight.

   Lanny Davis got into a shouting match with John Ausman at the DNC rules committee meeting today. Huffpo has the story here. Here's a nice piece of it

Ausman: [My proposal] is very generous, because Obama was initially
fighting for a situation where Clinton would net 6 delegates, now it's
19.

Davis: Don't say you're being generous.

Ausman: I can say we're being generous.

Davis: But you're allowed to and I'm allowed to disagree...

Ausman: But I'm the one who's on the petition...

Reporter: Ok ok, why don't we --

Ausman: Are you a representative of Clinton?

Davis: No, I'm actually just a person...

Ausman: Are you a designated representative of Clinton?

Davis: I am not a designated representative.

Ausman: Then why don't we have a designated representative speak for Clinton and you be silent?

Asked about the exchange with Ausman, he said: "I'm f-ing angry."

I'd love to see video of this Lanny meltdown. This all fits in nicely with Josh's post on the front page.

Pic from Hillary in West Virginia

 The NYTimes is reporting that numerous racially hostile emails have been discovered circulating between supervisors in the Secret Service. The documents have emerged as part of a 8yr old discrimination lawsuit filed by African American agents who claim to have been passed over for promotions. One of the emails jokes about a plane in which Jesse Jackson is in being hit by a missile.

Some new pics of the aftermath of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima have come out. They are pretty awful. They are reminiscent of Auschwitz, Rwanda and the Killing Fields of Cambodia. A soldier named Robert Capp found the undeveloped film outside of Hiroshima during the occupation of Japan. I think viewing this should be mandatory for everyone in this nation. The US is a nuclear power. Every citizen should know the power they place in the hands of people like George W Bush. People should know exactly what Hillary Clinton means when she says she would obliterate Iran(a non-nuclear power, they have nuclear energy not weaponry) if they attacked Israel(a nuclear power) with nuclear weapons. Although her statement presented a very unlikely scenario, we should all be on intimate terms with what she talks about so nonchalantly. She has no problem with committing a total genocide on the entire population of Iran, despite the fact that most Iranians do not agree with the actions of their unelected rulers. She draws on the powerless rants of an impotent figurehead in order to score points with the more ignorant or evil amongst us. I would like to see someone show a picture like this to her and ask her if that is what she wants to do to Iran. She throws around murdering 71,000,000 people at 3:00 AM as if it is no big deal for a tough vetted experienced fighter like her.

Hillary has decided to show us all how much of an elitist she isn't by allowing a guy from a union who backs her to use his supervisor's truck(so the Secret Service can ride along) to drive 45 miles out of his way to pick her up at her hotel so the press can watch her pump gas in the pickup with him. {sound of crickets} Turns out she admitted to not pumping her own gas in years. She's so blue collar its crazy!

Read about it here.

 This piece over at Kos is worth a read. It explains the real situation behind the CanadaGate episode. It also ties the Clintons to it rather than Bush or the GOP. Basically, the whole attack on Obama was a cover for Clinton being exposed with CTV being in on it as well.

 Haven't seen anyone talking about the colorful ending to Bill Clinton's "I love you darkies, my office is in Harlem!" race card radio rant so here it is in all of its glory.


The New Yorker also has an article to be published next week with a rundown of Bill Vs. Barack.
Here's one nice excerpt

When he makes news, it is rarely a good day for his spouse. Whether he
was publicly comparing Barack Obama’s primary victory in South Carolina
to Jesse Jackson’s campaigns in the eighties or privately, and
apoplectically, complaining that Bill Richardson broke his word by
endorsing Obama, every story has seemed to reinforce an image of
Clinton as a sort of ill-tempered coot driven a little mad by Obama’s
success. “I think this campaign has enraged him,” the adviser told me.
“He doesn’t like Obama.” In private conversations, he has been
dismissive of his wife’s rival. James Clyburn, an African-American
congressman from South Carolina, told me that Clinton called him in the
middle of the night after Obama won that state’s primary and raged at
him for fifty minutes.

Sounds like Bill needs to switch to decaf.

Josh said something that inspired me

The truth is that the guy doesn't actually have any real convictions --
or to put it more precisely, no real consistent convictions.

Genuine political and ideological transformations are pretty rare in
contemporary American politics. Two in a row in less than a decade is
close to unprecedented. McCain went from conservative Republican, to
embracing many core Democratic policy positions and actively discussing
a possible party switch, to cycling back and re-embracing the same
policies.

John McCain is a political shapeshifter. Just like the blank faced Odo from Star Trek DSN. He changes his political beliefs like t-shirts. He must be characterized as the faceless con artist he truly is. John McDoe can't be president.

The AP is telling us what some people knew was coming a long time ago

Apr 25, 2:35 AM EDT

Many states appear to be in recession

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer


The finances of many states have deteriorated so badly that they appear to be in a recession, regardless of whether that's true for the nation as a whole, a survey of all 50 state fiscal directors concludes.

The situation looks even worse for the fiscal year that begins July 1 in most states.

"Whether or not the national economy is in recession - a subject of ongoing debate - is almost beside the point for some states," said the report to be released Friday by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The weakening economy is hitting tax revenue in a number of ways: People's discretionary income is being gobbled up by higher food and fuel costs, while the tanking housing market means people are spending less on furniture and appliances associated with buying a house.

The situation is grim in Delaware, with a $69 million gap this year, and bleak in California, with a projected $16 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, the report said. Florida does not expect a rapid turnaround in revenue because of the prolonged real estate slump there.

By mid-April, 16 states and Puerto Rico were reporting shortfalls in their current budgets as the revenue those budgets were built on - typically, taxes - fell short of estimates. That's double the number of states reporting a deficit six months ago.

The NCSL said the news is even worse for the upcoming fiscal year, with 23 states and Puerto Rico already reporting budget shortfalls totaling $26 billion. More than two-thirds of states said they are concerned about next year's budgets.

The results are consistent with a drumbeat of bad economic news for states that several budget groups have produced in the past few months.

Last week, the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said 27 states are reporting projected budget shortfalls next year totaling at least $39 billion.

President Bush said Tuesday that the economy was not in a recession but a period of slower growth. However, some economists have pointed to the string of declines in manufacturing orders to argue that the economy has fallen into a recession.

Bolstering their position, the Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years. The government also reported that orders to factories for big-ticket goods fell for a third straight month in March, the longest string of declines since the 2001 recession.

Some states "have declined so much that they appear to be in a recession," the NCSL report said.

It also noted the silver lining for states where the economy is based on energy, such as North Dakota and Wyoming. Alaska is making so much money from oil that it announced an estimated surplus next year of $8 billion, almost twice the state's annual budget.

In North Dakota, revenue is above legislative predictions by 13 percent, and in Louisiana, the oil and gas sector is robust.

"For energy-producing states, the fiscal situation is strong and the outlook is good," the report said.

Among other findings:

-More than half the 16 states reporting deficits this year have cut spending, including $1 billion by Florida lawmakers last year and across-the-board cuts in Nevada. At least eight states are debating raising taxes or fees, including a proposed $1-per-pack cigarette tax increase in Massachusetts to raise $175 million.

-Twelve states, including Georgia, Idaho and Illinois, reported that personal income tax collections were failing to meet estimates, and in eight of these, collections were even below a reduced forecast.

-Many states, including Alabama, Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin, plan to tap their rainy day funds, which contain money set aside for fiscal emergencies. Nevada may use its entire rainy day balance.

Map of US with state budget gaps displayed is here.

A church in my neck of the woods in South Carolina has a sign up asking if Barack Obama is Osama Bin Laden's brother.


Here's a picture of the sign.


Church Sign Causes Controversy Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 - 10:31 PM Updated: 10:59 AM


By Elizabeth OwensE-mail | Biography

A sign is causing heated arguments outside of a church in Jonesville.

Pastor Roger Byrd of Jonesville Church of God put the sign up which reads "Obama Osama humm are they brothers?"

Pastor Byrd says the sign is not meant to be racial or political but
rather to make people think.  "His name is so close to Osama I have a
feeling he might be Islamic therefore he doesn't recognize Christ,"
Pastor Byrd said.

Barack attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Eugunia Foster is offended by the church sign.  "I'm embarrassed and
hurt.  I'm surprised a small town like Jonesville still has this
separation.  It is racial and hatred," Foster said.

Pastor Byrd told News Channel 7 he would ask his congregation to
vote on whether to keep the sign.  They voted unanimously to keep the
sign up Sunday night.

Jonesville Church of God does not have any African American members.

http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2008-04-20-0005.html