Obama and Edwards.....What a great ticket!

Obama and Edwards IS interesting. We have the 'elitist' from a single-parent home who just managed to pay off his college loans recently and has a net worth of about $1million, and a 'populist' multi-millionaire.

That should cover the bases.

Each succeeding event in the Obama campaign makes him look more and more like the "same-old, same-old," he told us he wasn't.

Still, the Edwards endorsement should generate quite a few votes...

for Hillary.

Clavos,

Specifics please?

I thought at one time an Edwards-Obama ticket would be great; now I'm more in the Obama-Rendell or Obama-Webb camp. They can do Obama more good in PA and VA, repsectively.

Webb? Between him and Obama, they have almost a full term in the Senate. Really bad idea.

That's what (obviously) works against Webb as VP. I would like Edwards, I'm just not sure whether he can help Obama in the same way a guy like Rendell can. Rendell is a Clintonista in the big swing state of Pennsylvania. And Rendell is Jewish (which could play well with Jewish voters and defuse the Lieberman factor).

Someone PLEASE ...
... tell BILLARY Clinton to STOP agonizing us with her NONSENSICAL campaign!

I wonder what Archie will do if McCain picks Lieberman as his VP...

Now that'd be fun to watch!

YAWWWNNNNN.....

I'm waiting for some news articles around here. Does nobody care about 60 people dying in Jaipur - or Grad missiles slamming into shopping centers.

It is all just Obama-shit and surviving the popularity contests in Micronesia?

What a shallow people!

Let's see...

"60 people died today. That is sad. Dying is bad."

I need 290 more words before I have a full-fledged article. But what I have so far is fuckin' compelling.

Ruvy--terrible about what happened in Ashkelon today. And the tragedies both in China and Myanmar.

In the US, the very life and soul of the country are at stake. Picking the correct candidate and electing that person president will mean the difference between the US staying on the same, corrupt path to Hell (paved with good intentions or not) and recovering our soul. It is time for our country to do a "cheshbon nefesh," an accounting of our very soul and what it means to be the United States.

Who sits in the White House post Bush is the most critical question we face today. From that all other policies, issues and crises will be addressed or not.

In the US, the very life and soul of the country are at stake

A bit hyperbolic, Barbara.

I doubt the country will expire if John McCain is elected.

Clavos--
hyperbole admitted. Sometimes it's just needed, for effect if nothing else. McCain won't change anything. Won't undo the damage; will make the Supreme Court even more conservative than it already is; will likely lead to a further theocratization of this (he'll need and be beholden to the Hagees and Parsleys of the world if he wants to get elected.) Maybe I'm not being all that hyperbolic...

And a stupid white politician endorses a black one is compelling, right?

Let's see if we can help you out, Matt.

From Googlenews....

1. China Daily
China scales up rescue operation
BBC News - 1 hour ago

China is mobilising 30,000 extra troops and 90 helicopters to help with the rescue operation after Monday's devastating earthquake.

2. Times Online
Jaipur blasts, LoC firing set Indo-Pakistan talks agenda
Pakistan Dawn - 40 minutes ago

Seven synchronized bombs exploded in the picturesque city of Jaipur Tuesday evening, killing more than 80 people and wounding more than 200.

3. Lebanon reverses decisions that angered Hezbollah
Los Angeles Times - 58 minutes ago

The government's move follows days of violence. It had outlawed the militia's communications network and fired a pro-Hezbollah official at Beirut's airport.

That's an American site, Matt.

Not compelling enough? Well, 14 years ago today, our cat, Flash, was born....

Well, gosh, Ruvy, sounds like you are really passionate about these news events, and have things to say about them! That's great to hear. We encourage that kind of thing.

Do you want me to re-forward you the instructions on how to submit a new BC article?

Barbara,

Heshbon nefesh? Deciding what to do about Obama's antics are Heshbon nefesh? Please don't make me laugh. The fool, if he is elected, will be better for Israel than McCain - at least we in Israel will see who the real enemy is (hint: it ain't Hamas, HizbAllah or even the PLO). That will help us throw out American puppets like Barak, Olmert and Netanyahu, and may even inspire Israelis to ditch the European puppets, Peres, Beilin and Mazuz.

Maybe Obama'll be better for America also, but your political and financial problems are too difficult for any mortal to solve. At least apply the term Heshbon nefesh in its proper context. Attempting to divide the Land of Israel (as in "Two States for Two Peoples") requires Heshbon nefesh, because it violates the Torah. But leaving us in Israel aside, if you want a "spiritual accounting" (that's what Heshbon nefesh means for you Hebrew challenged folks out there in Yankeedoodleland) to deal with America, you need to look far beyond Obama, McCain and all the other shits who are leading you to hell.

You need to look at the hard questions:

Why is that ten year old girl dressing up to be a slut when she can barely have sex? Why is she being pushed to have sex on TV, video games, magazines and everywhere else in American culture?

Why are those teenagers drinking themselves drunk at a kegger when they are barely 14?

Why is that kid afraid of the "lunch tax" at school? Why are other kids allowed to collect one?

Why did that woman just have an abortion? Doesn't she understand that aborting a five month old fetus is killing a soul? Why is the beer swilling pig who got her pregnant so happy?

Why did my neighbor cheat on his property taxes this year?

Why did that IRS auditor force a poor family into living on the streets to collect taxes?

Why did those kids yell at a deaf man trying to sell cards with a sign-language alphabet on it? Why are they laughing?

Why is that CEO who just fired 14,000 people making $20,000,000?

Why are people looking away from that homeless man searching the garbage pail for food?

Those are the kinds of questions a Heshbon nefesh deals with. To be precise, look at an Orthodox prayer-book, a Sephardi one, and note. After the amida (Standing Prayer) comes a vidui (Confession) that is recited every single day, three times daily. It is the same Confession recited on Yom Kippur.

That, Barbara, is Heshbon nefesh - a spiritual accounting. That is hard, and real.

And I haven't even scratched the surface, Barbara, and you know it.

Your elections, for the supposed most powerful person on earth, are a joke, compared to a Heshbon nefesh.

And you know that, too.

Well, I guess now Obama has the official stamp of full-on nation-destroying, mindless socialism and we can all move forward hand in hand in a lockstep towards our future of living in government authorized cubicles and eating soylent green.

Dave

we can all move forward hand in hand in a lockstep towards our future of ..... eating soylent green.

Don't forget to ride your bike each day for two hours to generate the electricity to run your government approved cubicle gated compound, Dave.

Oh, BTW, calling Obama or any other Democrat in the States a socialist is insulting socialists the world over, including yours truly.

Great article Barbara.

LOL @ Dave.

I, for one, will surely expire if John McCain were to be elected president.

I agree KYJurisDoctor, I wish Hillary would call it a day, partly because there is no one on the left or right who actually understands what McCain is saying in his healthcare plan. I am hoping Obama will make him explain it. So far, McCain won't comment to anyone who understands enough about what it seems to be about, to ask questions.

One thing for sure is, the middle and lower classes would be paying more taxes if McCain were elected. He's hiding his tax increases for the bottom earners in his healthcare reform proposal. Right where the people who didn't go to college (and are therefore more likely to vote for him) won't notice them.

Anyone who cares to have a look at what he actually wants to do (not the generalized fluff on his website, which doesn't tell you anything), I will be grateful if you can enlighten me.

Soylent green is an EPA approved climate neutral product, however you will still be required to wear your government issued methane sequestering underpants to prevent AGE (anthropogenic gaseous emissions) caused by the digestive process.

One thing for sure is, the middle and lower classes would be paying more taxes if McCain were elected.

The middle and lower classes will be paying more taxes no matter who is elected; the politicians are all rich; even when they raise taxes on the rich, they raise them more on the middle class.

The base taxpayer in this country is the consumer, who not only pays income, property and sales taxes, but all the taxes corporations pay, as well.

...which is as it should be in a free market

we are each responsible for our governments

Also, Edwards quixotic crusade against poverty is the most idiotic piece of pandering bullshit.

POVERTY DOES NOT EXIST IN THE USA AS DEFINED BY THE UN.

To make up for it the bleeding heart graduates from the leftist arts colleges, who can't make it anywhere in private enterprise so they take a government position monitoring 'the problem', arbitrarily make a new definition of poverty based on percentage of median income.

This arbitrary 'poverty' farce does not include food benefits, housing benefits, medicaid or other government benefits or address the fact that yes, some people choose to not report income for the purposes of avoiding taxes (gasp!!!). It is simply a proxy for income inequality. The only way for there to be less 'poverty' is for the rich and middle class to make less therefore driving down the bar, or on top of free food, housing, and healthcare cutting a check for a couple thousand a month to anyone who doesn't want to work thereby raising them above this imaginary 'poverty' threshold.

Ruvy, don't lecture me on the meaning of cheshbon nefesh. I know how and why I used the term and it applies. Americans must decide, must make an accounting, of who we are as a nation, and what we are all about.

Dave, soylent green--yum.

I can't wait for the general election. If the results in Mississippi, Louisiana and Illinois (special elections, all won by democrats, taking long-time repub seats) are an indication, we're in for an interesting ride. But mostly, I can't wait to see if America has finally realy woken up to the Rovian tactics and politics of fear--and refuse to play along.

Believe me, in all three contests, the repubs left no slimy rock unturned, and they still lost.

I'm also looking forward to Obama and McCain going one-on one, discussing political and policy differences that are wide and deep.

"The base taxpayer in this country is the consumer, who not only pays income, property and sales taxes, but all the taxes corporations pay, as well."

About right, I'd say it's the workers rather than the consumers though. Workers must work extra to cover for the percent of purchasing power taken by taxes. At a basic level, you can only take from those that are producing something. Non-workers can be consumers but they aren't really 'paying' anything, just giving back a portion previously transferred to them.

Doug - ...or one could say: 'hungry - ? well look around...you ain't seen nothin' yet'

the workers rather than the consumers

One and the same, except for pensioners (who already paid the bulk of their taxes, and still pay property, capital gains and sales taxes) and welfare recipients (who are not a significant cohort, in terms of numbers).

I say consumers because some taxes, hidden taxes and sales taxes, are not paid until the goods and services are actually purchased.

"End user" would suffice as well.

Ruvy - it's basically impossible to cheat on property taxes, at least where I live. The value of property is set by the city and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it other than pay the indicated amount. I dunno. maybe it's different in Brooklyn, but I doubt it.

And looking at all that other shit in your comment #17, you must have really lived in a shitty neighborhood and you've never ever forgotten it. Normally, after a while people tend to forget the bad and remember the good things...you seem to have done the opposite. And that's a shame...must be more of a glass half empty kinda guy...

I wonder what Archie will do if McCain picks Lieberman as his VP...

I have no clue other than not vote for him.

Edwards is agreat pick for Obama. Edwards canhelp hime win his home state of NC like he helped Kaerry win it in 20....oh wait nevermind.

It doesn't matter who Obama picks he's still going to lose.

Andy,

I didn't have to deal with property taxes until I lived in St. Paul. You can't cheat on paying the taxes themselves - but you can sure as hell try to cheat on the refund you are due from the State, which is what I was really referring to. Sorry for being unclear.

As for everything else, I was trying to make a list of things I saw (or might have seen) in the States that require a serious moral reckoning. Obviously, they are not all true.

But I'll add one that is; I knew a woman who liked drinking alcohol "socially" and did so while she was pregnant - evidently she got seriously drunk more than a few times.

She and her husband paid the consequences, too. The child born of that pregnancy was seriously deformed in his mental development. We had friends who would throw parties where the liquor flowed like water, and this couple was there with their son - and you could always see the tension between them when anything had to be done for the poor child.

I have to wonder if this woman learned to stay off the bottle while pregnant - or even if she is still married to her husband.

Actually, Andy, I'm not a "bottle half empty" kind of guy at all. But sometimes, you need to give a harsh example, and that was what I was doing. Also, while I tend, like most people, to remember the good things and forget the bad ones, a lot of the stuff I read here, (and a lot of the intentional blindness I see - see comment #26) reminds me of all the shit that I'd rather forget.

#31:
AC, Remembering that it takes 270 electoral votes to win, how and why do you think Obama is sure to lose?

I think Mccain will win FL, OH, MO, NH, and possible even michigan. I don't see Obama turning and red states blues.

Lee, stop encouraging Archie to predict things. You know how well that tends to turn out for him.

I agree that McCain will probably win Florida and possibly Missouri if he puts his back into it, but there's no way he'll take any of the others - unless Obama commits electoral hari-kiri in some truly outrageous way between now and November - like, I dunno, openly embracing Satanism or outsourcing Congress to Bangladesh or something.

And I think Obama can and will win a few Southern states, most likely Virginia and North Carolina.

outsourcing Congress to Bangladesh...

If Obama were to do that, he'd have my vote in a heartbeat...

Cool. I'll let him know, Clav.

Cool. I'll let him know, Clav.

Millions of other malcontents and curmudgeons will likely join me, tell him.

And Bangladeshi-Americans?

Probably...

Don't forget to ride your bike each day for two hours to generate the electricity to run your government approved cubicle gated compound, Dave.

You joke, Ruvy, but I actually have all the parts assembled in my garage right now to build a pedal-powered generator.

Dave

"This arbitrary 'poverty' farce does not include food benefits, housing benefits, medicaid or other government benefits or address the fact that yes, some people choose to not report income for the purposes of avoiding taxes (gasp!!!)."

Doug has a very good point on the lack of poverty in the US. And here he touches on something that is one of my pet issues, the underground economy. There are literally tens of millions of people making respectable livings who pay no taxes at all and live completely or mostly off the grid, and the numbers are growing at an astonishing rate. It's a very important indicator of an over-taxed population that so much of the economy is moving into the shadows.

Dave

I live in NH and there's a very good chance that Mccain will win NH. Don't ask me why but people up here love him.

It's only 4 electoral votes but every last one counts right?

archie, do you take anti-depressants? do you sometimes skip days? or abruptly stop taking them. because some days you are lucid and calm. others, not so much. i know everyone has mood swings. and i know i'm not the authority on lucidity... but still. you're not quite your "charming" usual self today.

I work with what I'm given by the rest of you each new day zing.

i'm just a reflection of the rest of you.

thw mere idea that someone like Edwards can be taken even halfway seriously is a sad commentary on this country. In a reasonable encironment his endorsement ought to be like a mprtal curse on Obama's campaign.

The reason Lumpy posted that comment twice is because he knew I would agree with him, and he wanted to save me the trouble of repeating.

Right Lump?

Lumpy needs validation.

Unfortunately, so does our bandwidth...

So bye-bye to the dupe!

Don't forget to ride your bike each day for two hours to generate the electricity to run your government approved cubicle gated compound, Dave.

You joke, Ruvy, but I actually have all the parts assembled in my garage right now to build a pedal-powered generator.

Actually, I don't joke at all. I'd like to build such a thing myself.

I wonder what Archie will do if McCain picks Lieberman as his VP...

I have no clue other than not vote for him.

Hell, I won't even vote for him if he picks Lieberman as his VP.

Dave

While we're skirting the subject, the amusing thing about Lieberman's campaign in '06 was how Connecticut Republicans rushed en masse to vote for him as an Independent, seeing it as an opportunity to block a Democrat... not stopping to realize that once re-elected, Lieberman would caucus with the Dems anyway.

Lieberman looks too much like "Mr. Wizzard" anyway.

Look.... Liberman is a decent guy...how can you not like a guy that tells the dem party to go fuck themselevsa and beats them after they've thrown him under the bus?

But Mcaain can't and won't pick him if he wants to win in Nov. Mccain has a history of enjoing pissing off conservatives and taking them for granted but if he were to pick Lieberman it would push them over the edge forever as far as he is concerned, costing him the election. Hopefully even Mccain is not so sytupid and arrogant as to fail to realize this.

Mccain's biggest weakness is his lack of understanding of the economy. He looked like Frankenstein when talking about the economy during the republican debates........ "jobs.......good..........unemployment bad..............grrr..."

The one person that would be able to help Mccain with this weakness is of course Mitt Romney, whose greatest strength is his understanding of the economy. There is a very good chance that Mitt on the ticket would help Mccain to win both MI and NH and if Mccain wins these two states plus Florida he wins it all. Contrary to popular belief Obama is not going to win a single southern state.

Romney had nearly the amount of support during the primaries that Mccain had and would be able to help Mccain raise the huge amount of money it takes to run a presidential campaign.

If Mccain picks Lieberman, Huckabee or some other dumbass to be his VP I won't vote for him.

Romney is the ONLY chice.

The guy's money.

Barbara,

"But mostly, I can't wait to see if America has finally realy woken up to the Rovian tactics and politics of fear--and refuse to play along."

I am afraid you will get your wish with today's bad news. And I surely hope America has woken up. Because the bin Laden news is going to be a big test of that.

Arch, Fred Barnes wrote a really good column about McCain/Romney a couple of months ago. He agreed with you, that Romney balances McCain's weaknesses nicely. But the problem is, McCain hates Mitt, and McCain isn't the kind of guy to let go of personal grudges.