Ms, Do you have any concerns that the spoiled ballots could work against Hillary when they are scrutinized? That would NOT be good publicity for superD's. I only say this cause Obama was supposed to win by such a large margin and the fact that he didn't and there were possible voter problems...well, you know. Everyone is on hair trigger alert these days.

I didn't follow the Guam lead up that carefully... In any case- they should be counted!

The more the merrier when it comes to counting ballots.

Who knows...she might win by 493 votes instead of losing by 7! :)

(I'm at the airport waiting for the plane.... and waiting... It's 1 am and we are both trying to stay awake and blogging at a little charging station. LOL)

baseball and basketball players wearing underwear inside out and the lucky socks and that sort of thing, although i sure do understand the concept. white squirrel! this is great!

The Real News. Become a supporting member today. No ads, gov't or corporate funding.

the more we learn, the more pissed off I get at the wealsey-a**ed Dem elites who decided NOW was the time for O! to run and encouraged him to do so. Cripes. They are proving to be as clueless as we've long known they are. It's obvious they never took the time to vet the guy. If he's the nominee, we are so f'd.

Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.

you are bettter than the comment - I hope; if you are addressing me in any way shape or form;

 there is a rivalry ok it is a contest but for CCN WKC site to become hateful/hatefilled or racehating is not ok - I'd like to hear WC on this issue;

 Addiction in individuals occurs when a person stops seeing a reason to risk the vulnerability required for real fulfillment. A drug may be so powerful that it simply replaces the struggle to build a satisfying life -  Media Literacy

 the video on a recent thread is racist and you and I were commenting on it; I called it a racist video and you disagreed;

Addiction in individuals occurs when a person stops seeing a reason to risk the vulnerability required for real fulfillment. A drug may be so powerful that it simply replaces the struggle to build a satisfying life -  Media Literacy

Oh, please - I love when they talk to us like we're clueless when it comes to local politics.

Here's just a snippet of how personal this election is to IL Senate President Emil Jones Jr:

(from The Dallas Observer - February, 2008)

..what's interesting, and almost never discussed, is that he (Obama) built his entire legislative record in Illinois in a single year.

Republicans controlled the Illinois General Assembly for six years of Obama's seven-year tenure. Each session, Obama backed legislation that went nowhere ; bill after bill died in committee. During those six years, Obama, too, would have had difficulty naming any legislative achievements.

Then, in 2002, dissatisfaction with President Bush and Republicans on the national and local levels led to a Democratic sweep of nearly every level of Illinois state government. For the first time in 26 years, Illinois Democrats controlled the governor's office as well as both legislative chambers.

The white, race-baiting, hard-right Republican Illinois Senate Majority Leader James "Pate" Philip was replaced by Emil Jones Jr., a gravel-voiced, dark-skinned black senator known for chain-smoking cigarettes on the Senate floor. Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama's.

He became Obama's kingmaker.

Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city's most popular black call-in radio program.

I called Kelley last week, and he recollected the private conversation as follows:

"He said, 'Cliff, I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'"

"Oh, you are? Who might that be?"

"Barack Obama."

Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.

"I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," state Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn't have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.

"I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the 1-yard line and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book."

State Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, accuses Jones of a little "bill-jacking" - taking issues that other senators had been working on and giving them to Obama. Trotter, for instance, said he had hoped to be named chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee but the job went to Obama instead.

During his seventh and final year in the Illinois Senate, Obama's stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law—including many he now cites in his presidential campaign when attacked as inexperienced. It was a stunning achievement that started him on the path of national politics, and he couldn't have done it without Jones.

Before Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was virtually unknown even in his own state. Polls showed less than 20 percent of Illinois voters had ever heard of Barack Obama.

Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news headlines.

For instance, Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage.

I spoke to Jones earlier this week, and he confirmed his conversation with Kelley, adding that he gave Obama the legislation because he believed in Obama's ability to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans on divisive issues.

So how has Obama repaid Emil Jones Jr?

Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones' Senate district.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:1DhCaw0JYkUJ:www.dallasobserver.com/photoGallery/index.php%3Fid%3D903292%26p%3D1+Emil+Jones+Jr+obama&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

another snip from a CNN article:

..when Obama wanted a promotion to the U.S. Senate, Jones provided critical support that gave the little-known legislator legitimacy, keeping him from being instantly trampled by the front-runners.

"He's been indispensable to Barack's career. He wants to see a black president before he gets called home," said fellow state Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Democrat.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:vJzBLC7WW08J:www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/31/obamas.godfather.ap/+Emil+Jones+Jr+obama&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=16&gl=us

I try not to get outraged by the "Chicago-style politics as usual," but things like this go beyond the pale.

When they're not busy trying to recall the gov., they're pulling stunts like this!

"We canceled session (today) because, as we've done in two or three previous weeks, we found we can get just as much done in two days as three," said Cindy Davidsmeyer, spokeswoman for Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat.

That's just too funny - since they never get anything done, I would have to agree that they can get just as much done in two days as in three! ;)

then maybe they just shouldn't meet at all...they'd do less damage that way!

I'm still cringing at the bill that they muscled through enforcing the "moment of silence" in public schools...what a fiasco!

Before Obama got into this I had blinders on. I really give him credit for forcing me to open my eyes to all the garbage that goes on in this state.
I've always know there has been dirty politics in Chicago but never to this extent.
Rezko and his group have their hands in everything. Ayres is disgusting. While I believe people can change, I do not believe he has. And yet this person is held in high esteem ..... it makes me sick.
I don't think in good conscience I can vote for any of them.

hasn't been effective at all, lately, don't you agree? Maybe they should spend some more time working (and quit trying to recall Blago) and less time campaigning for O!

I swear, I'm not going to vote for any of them next time around, either, including Durbin! :(

Suburban schools benefit from lawmakers' lapse

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=186327&src=1

By Amber Krosel | Daily Herald Staff Published: 5/7/2008 12:06 AM

SPRINGFIELD -- Suburban schools will be able to avoid stricter driver education laws because Illinois lawmakers didn't get their work done on time.

The General Assembly failed to meet a legal deadline for acting on public schools' requests to steer clear of certain state requirements. In the case of several suburban schools, those requests dealt with continued use of driving simulator programs along with regular behind-the-wheel training.

In July, a new state law removes the use of such simulators as substitutes for actual driving with an instructor. In response, several area schools asked lawmakers for permission to avoid the new requirement for the next five years.

The newer technology, school officials argue, is a better use of funding and helps young drivers learn more than just traditional behind-the-wheel courses .

"It allows for more contact time with the student," said Dan Kleinfeldt, a driver education teacher at Oak Park and River Forest High School, adding that often his real driving lessons in the suburban area are stuck in traffic.

The Illinois Senate approved the requests late last week after the House had already adjourned and announced it would not be back until Tuesday. The House was prepared to approve a one-year waiver on the simulator requirement, but suburban schools had asked permission to keep using simulators for up to five years.

Because the deadline was missed, the five-year request was automatically granted.

"This is a process that doesn't work very well," said state Rep. Mike Smith, a Peoria-area Democrat in explaining to colleagues what happened.

... read the rest of the article at the link

"Reid Diverges from Pelosi on Superdelegate Decision" May 05, 2008

(snips)

..The Nevada Democrat has not come out against the superdelegates voting to overturn the candidate with more pledged delegates, Clinton’s best path to the nomination. Reid is also less concerned about the primary dragging on into June.

..“I think superdelegates have the opportunity, the ability and the right to vote for whoever they want, and I think that’s what they should do,” Reid said last week on National Public Radio.

..Pelosi has also raised concerns about the tone of the campaign, saying it could hurt the party’s chances against the presumptive GOP nominee. But Reid has downplayed those concerns, emphasizing positive aspects of a protracted campaign, like the scores of new Democratic voters who have been “healthy” for the party.

..An Obama White House might mean greater influence for Durbin. Some have speculated that Reid would stand to lose some influence should Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) win, given that fellow Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is a close Obama ally and the chamber’s No. 2 Democratic leader.

..Reid has gone to lengths to portray neutrality in the race. For instance, when Clinton allies sued to stop the Democratic Party from holding caucus meetings at some Las Vegas hotels, Reid stayed out of the fight.

..Reid, however, has family ties to the Clinton campaign. In February 2007, Reid’s son Rory, the chairman of the Clark County Commission in Nevada, signed on as Nevada chairman of the Clinton campaign and a senior adviser on Western issues.

..But the elder Reid has emphasized that his son’s endorsement does not translate into his backing of Clinton.

..Reid has a longer history with the Clintons, having worked closely with the former president on mining and nuclear waste issues. Facing a tough reelection in 1998, Bill Clinton sent top aides to help Reid campaign for a third term, which he won with just 48 percent of the vote.

..It’s unclear whether the Clinton campaign will win support from Reid in its bid to count primaries in Michigan and Florida, which she won despite a vow by the candidates not to campaign there since the states broke party rules for moving up their dates. In a March interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Reid criticized the states for breaking the rules, but said the delegates would be seated without offering how or whether they would be split among the candidates.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/reid-diverges-from-pelosi-on-superdelegate-decision-2008-05-05.html

And here's why:
1. It has shown Obama's flaws and promises to uncover even more.
2. The attacks by him and by the media have shown Hillary's strengths.
3. Women have been mobilized by all the sexism.
4. Attention is being brought to the candidates and electoral process.
5. John McCain looks like a halting old man dottering along on the sidelines, heeded by virtually no one.

Here's good news re superdelegates = HC +1

AP - Another TX Democratic superdelegate has decided to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton in the party's presidential primary. Jaime Gonzalez Jr., a McAllen attorney, confirmed Monday that he is endorsing Clinton.

Gonzalez said he based his decision in large part on Clinton having won the Texas primary and the Hispanic voters who came out "en masse" to vote for her.

"I had been leaning there, but I hadn't quite made up my mind" until now, he said.

Among TX superdelegates — those delegates who are not formally pledged to either candidate and are free to make up their minds until convention time this summer — Clinton appears to have a slight edge, with 12 supporting her, to Obama's 10, of those who have confirmed their decisions with The Associated Press. The remaining TX superdelegates are uncommitted or have not answered calls from the AP.

Gonzalez, who is on the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE'S RULES COMMITTEE, said he believes the best chance for seating Florida and Michigan delegates is for those states to hold another caucus or primary by early June.

They could also appeal to the national convention's credentials committee, he said. While he would like to see the matter decided by convention time, Gonzalez also said he thinks it would be an exciting, old-style convention if it's not decided until then.

"It would be a very real convention," Gonzalez said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/politics/5755529.html