Most, But Not All, of Our Visitors Live in the United States

The chart that appears below comes from the service we use to track visitors to our blog. As you can see, most, but not all, of our visitors come from the United States. Frankly, we are always amazed that anyone outside of the U.S. visits a blog about Democratic politics, but that's the way of the Internet.

Democratic Pics from July 4th Parades in Medina County

Below are some pictures of Medina County Democrats at July 4th parades in Medina County. Featured are Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, who is running for re-election; Judge James Kimbler, who is running unopposed this year; Wadsworth City Councilman John Sharkey, who is running for County Commissioner; James Riley, who is running for the State Senate; and Larry Courtney, who is running for Medina County Recorder. Our thanks to Karen Holman for providing these pictures.

The Bush Record: Surplus to Record Making Deficit

So, how do you go from a 86.4 billion dollar surplus in fiscal year 2000 to a record setting deficit in fiscal year 2008? Well, first you elect George "Frat Boy" Bush as President. Next, you give him a GOP Congress that can't say no. You follow that up with reckless tax cuts for the wealthy and you add a needless war with Iraq. Viola! You go from the Federal Government being in the black under Bill Clinton to bleeding red ink under "Frat Boy". See, it really was pretty simple. All you needed was a bunch of Republicans running, or should we say, ruining, our country.

Medina County Fair 2008 Dem Booth Pics

Below are pictures from the Medina County Democratic Party booth at the Medina County Fair. The pictures were taken on July 30, 2008 by Medina County Democrat Carol Gurney.

MCDAC Looking for Dem Newspaper Content for Fall of 2008

This is a scaled down pic of the front page of the June, 2008, edition of Common Sense, Medina County's first and only Democratic newspaper. We are now looking for content for the Fall, 2008, edition. If you have pictures of Democratic events and/or candidates; are interested in sending us a letter to the editor; or want to contribute an article, please send your name, email address, and a short message describing your content to our managing editor, Julie Batey, whose email address is given below.

We are putting together the newspaper over the next month and plan to go to the printer in late September. Our goal is to distribute the paper before the early voting starts in November. We are also looking for advertisers. If you are a Democratic candidate, this is an excellent way to make sure that you shore up your support among Medina County Democratic voters. If you are thinking about running in 2009, this is an excellent way to start getting your name out the Medina County Democrats. Our advertising director is Kate Feeks. Her email address also appears below.

Julie's email address is juliebatey@medinacountydemocraticactioncommittee.org.
Kate's email address is katemfeeks@yahoo.com. When sending email messages about Common Sense to either Julie or Kate, please put Common Sense in the subject line.

(By the way, in case you are wondering, the blue box below the donkey and cowering elephant is where the address label went.)

Do Republican Leaning Women Care that McCain Wants Roe v Wade overturned?

In 2004, during one of the presidential debates, George W. Bush was asked a direct question about Roe v. Wade and whether he wanted that decision reversed. He refused to answer the question and, inexplicably, John Kerry didn't point out that he hadn't answered the question. Bush's failure to directly answer the question led some observers to believe that Karl Rove realized that while saying he wanted Roe v. Wade reversed would help him with social conservatives, it would hurt him with women who may like Republicans on economic issues, but are suspicious of them on social issues.

John McCain, however, when aaked about Roe v. Wade during the Republican primaries, came right out and said that it was a bad decision and should be reversed.
While McCain might deserve points for being candid, this forthright proclamation about Roe could hurt him with women, if they know where he stands.

There is indications, however, that they don't know where he stands. This is from an article in AlterNet:

A February Planned Parenthood poll of 1,205 women voters in 16 battleground states found that 50 percent of women voters don't know McCain's position on abortion, and that 49 percent of women who backed McCain were pro-choice. Forty-six percent of women supporting McCain said they'd like to see Roe v. Wade upheld -- though McCain says he supports overturning the decision. When they learned of his position on Roe, 36 percent of women who identified as both pro-choice and likely McCain voters said they would be less likely to vote for him.

These moderate, often suburban, middle-class women could be critical swing voters this election. At the time of the Planned Parenthood poll, Obama held only a 5 percentage-point margin over McCain with its swing-state demographic, 41 percent to 36 percent. (You can read the whole article here.)

It would be interesting to see how women in a county like Medina County would respond to knowing that McCain wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. Medina County has a lot of pro-life voters, but it also has a lot of women who are pro-choice although lean Republican. Our guess is that it would cost McCain votes, but we could be wrong.

McCain Wants to End Tax Deduction for Employer Provided Health Care

As this AlterNet article of July 25, 2008, makes clear, John McCain's health care plan calls for ending the tax deduction that employers get for providing health insurance to their employees. This system, which is the main pillar of America's increasingly dysfunctional health care system, delivers health insurance to about 90% of American workers. McCain wants to end this system and replace it with a system whereby Americans negotiate with health insurance companies on their own.

This is a quote from the AlterNet article linked to above:

His plan is designed -- with sugar and sticks -- to push you to negotiate on your own with the friendly insurance companies. He'll give you a tax credit -- $2,500 for an individual; $5,000 for a family -- to help you pay the price. And he'll revoke the tax exemption for any health benefits your employer provides. Under his plan, those benefits will be taxed as income. McCain says this will reduce our health care expenditures. He might be right. His preferred option -- health saving accounts -- generally features low monthly payments and very high deductibles. People tend to insure themselves against catastrophe and take a chance on routine health care.

On average, this will work pretty well if you are young and healthy and lucky. But if you are sick, if you have suffered serious illnesses in the past, if you have what insurers call a "pre-existing condition," or if you are older and at higher risk, you're in trouble. For many, insurance won't be available at any price. That's why Elizabeth Edwards noted that neither she nor McCain would be eligible for such coverage since both have struggled with cancer. Many more will find adequate coverage unaffordable. Others will have to choose between paying to see a doctor or buying the weekly groceries. You'll be more "sensitive to price," but you might not think that a good thing.

The article's author, Robert Borosage, who is co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, goes on to note that while John McCain extols the virtues of private medical insurance plans, he personally has spent his entire life on a government paid health insurance system. When he was growing up, his father got health coverage for his family because he was in the Navy. Then, after high school graduation, McCain went to Annapolis where he received health care from the government. A year after he left the military, he was elected to Congress and got the best coverage offered to Americans. So, while he wants to end the health care system that most American workers use, he will continue to receive health care from the U.S. Government.

The next time that someone tells you they are voting for McCain, ask them if they have employer provided health insurance. If they say "yes", ask them how they feel about McCain doing away with such coverage. See how that makes them feel.

GOP Is Banking on Oil Prices to Narrow Gap

Republicans are counting on the issue of gas prices to narrow the gap with Democrats in the November elections. Cars with bumper stickers saying "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" are showing up in Medina County. According to public opinion polls, a majority of Americans favor increasing offshore drilling.

What's interesting is that obviously allowing oil companies to drill offshore won't do a thing to bring down oil prices in the short term. Indeed, there is scant evidence that allowing such drilling would ever work because of the global market forces driving up oil prices.

What could work, though, and could be done without any environmental cost is for Americans to start using less gas by car-pooling. Go on Interstate Highway between the hours of 7 AM to 9AM and you will see thousands of cars taking Americans to work. The vast majority of those cars will only have one person in the car. Clearly, if you could boost the number of occupants in those cars to just two, you would save a lot of gasoline. Instead of incentives to make oil companies richer, we need incentives designed to save working class Americans money. We need incentives to get Americans to car-pool going and coming from work.

The GOP won't push proposals that give incentives to ordinary Americans to use less gasoline. First of all, their political allies in the oil industry won't like it. Second, such incentives, in their view, interfere with the "free market", a concept that has religious overtones for most conservatives. Third, as shown by the fact that they won't raise taxes to pay for the Iraq War, they are opposed to asking Americans to sacrifice for the common good.

Democrats need to come up with policy proposals that will do just that and they need to come up with these proposals pretty quick. If they don't, they could see the GOP cashing in on what ought to be a Democratic issue.

How Will Republicans Spin Germans' Love for Obama as a Bad Thing?

This photos from the New York Times gives you an impression of the size of the crowd that attended Obama's Berlin speech. It will be interesting to see how the GOP tries to negatively spin this. We believe that there are millions of Americans who are discouraged by Bush's trashing of our country's reputation abroad and will be encouraged by Obama's success, but we could be wrong.

Dueling Ohio Obama v. McCain Polls

On Monday Public Policy Polling released a poll showing Obama with an eight point lead in Ohio. On Tuesday Rasmussen released a poll showing McCain with a 10 point lead. So, just in case Ohio Democrats thought that this election was a wrap, it's time to remember what Hans Solo said to Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars: "Good shooting, but don't get cocky, kid."

Pics of Dems at the Brunswick Old Fashioned Days Parade

A person who was taking pictures of the Brunswick Old Fashioned Days Parade was kind enough to send us some pictures of Democrats in the parade. Even though it was a rainy day, Medina County Democrats were well represented in the parade.

Democrats pictured include United States Representative Betty Suttonof Ohio's 13TH Congressional District; Brunswick City Councilman Vince Carl; Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman; and Medina County Common Pleas Judge James Kimbler. Campaign volunteers pictured include Karen Holman, Joyce Kimbler, and State Central Committeewoman Pat Hanek.

If you have pictures of Democrats at events, feel free to send them to joycekimbler@medinacountydemocraticactioncommittee.org.

Obama Leads in Public Policy Polling

Public Policy Polling released a poll that shows Obama beating McCain in Ohio by a spread of 48%-40%. Here is a quote from the press release on the poll:

Raleigh, N.C. – Barack Obama continues to hold a solid advantage over John McCain in Ohio, according to the newest survey from Public Policy Polling. His lead in the state is 48-40, similar to the 50-39 edge he showed in PPP’s June poll. Obama trails McCain 46-42 among white voters, but his 91-6 advantage with African Americans gives him the overall lead.

“Right now Barack Obama is in a pretty good position in Ohio,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “His standing with black voters is not surprising, but he is also doing unusually well with white voters in the state. Whether he can sustain that level of support or not will probably determine if he can take this state.”

The results show a significant gender gap, with Obama leading by 20 points among women but trailing by seven with men. Obama leads in all age groups except senior citizens.

Is Secretary of State Rice a Partisan Hack?

On a lot of levels, Condoleezza Rice is a very admirable person. She is obviously highly intelligent, has a great work ethic, and has a background suiting her for her position. On another level, however, she comes across as a partisan hack.

Raw Story is reporting that the night before Barack Obama left on his foreign trip, Secretary of State Rice issued a directive to American embassies that barred them from arranging certain visits for presidential candidates visiting foreign countries. Here is a quote from the Raw Story article:

The night before presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) left for Afghanistan, Iraq and Western Europe for a tour of US bases overseas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a cable to US missions forbidding them from holding events for presidential candidates or arrange meetings for them.

Rice issued no such cable prior to foreign excursions by presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

In a cable sent late Thursday, according to a copy leaked to the Washington Times, Rice enjoined American diplomats to treat the candidates as "members of Congress visiting in personal or semi-personal capacities," but "with additional restrictions based on rules related to political activity."

"Provide de minimis assistance to the candidate with logistical arrangements," said the cable, according to the Times. "If the campaign staff wants to rent a bus for press, tell them where they can rent a bus."

Rice didn't issue the same demands in advance of travel by Sen. McCain. McCain visited the Middle East four months ago -- but officials told the paper they didn't make similar demands because he was part of an "official congressional delegation."

What's amazing about stories like this is that the Bushies are partying like's it 2003 and they are ruling the world. Unfortunately for them, the media is getting on to their partisan hackery. What worked back in the day, won't work now.

Pew Research Poll Shows Record High Engagement in 2008 Campaign

The Pew Research Center has a poll out that shows what it describes as "record high" engagement for the 2008 campaign. This is from the Pew article on the poll:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 18-29 among 2,004 Americans, finds greater public interest and engagement in the presidential election than during the five previous campaigns. Fully 72% say they are giving quite a lot of thought to this election -- by far the highest percentage at this point in the campaign since 1988. The proportion saying they are more interested in politics this year than during the previous campaign is greater than it has been since 1992. And public interest in campaign news has been consistently higher than in recent elections.

The Pew Poll shows that enthusiam among Democrats is much higher than among Republicans. Here is a summary of the poll results:

A second factor which may also contribute to a Democratic turnout advantage is that supporters of the Republican candidate, uncharacteristically, are less strongly committed to their choice than are supporters of the Democratic candidate. Overall, Obama leads McCain in the presidential horserace by 48% to 40%. Most voters who say they support Obama -- 28% among the 48% -- say they support him strongly. By contrast, only about a third of McCain's backers say they support him strongly (14% of the 40%).

Throughout the 2004 campaign, Bush drew more strong than moderate support by margins of greater than two-to-one. Even in Bush's first campaign, he consistently drew at least as much strong support as moderate support.

You can read the Pew article on the poll here.

Supreme Court of the United States Losing Public Support

The above poll, reported by www.pollingreport.com, shows quite a swing in the approval rating of the United States Supreme Court. In the last two years we have seen the Congress go from Republican to Democratic control; we have seen Bush's approval ratings hit new record lows; we have seen Obama and Clinton attract millions of new voters to the polls; Obama now leads in almost every major poll being conducted in the presidential campaign; and now this poll showing the Supreme Court's approval ratings going downhill.

The question is whether all of this is evidence that the public is rejecting conservatism in government? Is that is so, then the GOP is in for a rough time, but only time will tell.

Iraqi Prime Minister Backs Obama's 16 Month Timetable for Withdrawal

Iraq's Prime Minister reportedly told a German magazine that he backs Senator Barack Obama's 16 month timetable for withdrawing United States combat forces from Iraq. Here is a quote from the Reuters article about his comments:

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

Now why would he agree with Obama? First of all, he wants to pressure the Bush Administration into signing an agreement governing the role of American troops that is favorable to Iraq. The last thing that the Bush Administration wants is the Iraqi PM publicly supporting Obama's positions.

Second, he wants American troops out of Iraq because the Iraq public wants them out of Iraq. Since he has elections this year, he needs to get the public on his side.

Third, he may not trust McCain to actually pull American combat troops out of Iraq. The last thing that Iraq wants is the US to have the capability to take over its oil fields using American troops stationed in Iraq.

Whatever his reasons, though, this puts McCain in a very difficult position. Now it looks like McCain and Bush want us to stay indefinitely while the American and Iraqi publics want us out.

Photos from the 2008 Lodi Sweet Corn Festival Parade

State Senator John Boccieri Raising More than GOP Opponent

According to filings with the Federal Elections Commission, State Senator John Boccieri is taking in more contributions than his Republican opponent, State Representative Kirk Schuring. As of June 30, 2008, Boccieri had taken in a little over 1 million dollars while Schuring had taken in a shade over $800,000.00. This race is one of the closest U.S. House races in the country. It is a good sign that Boccieri is more than holding his own against the GOP.

Bush Tours America To See Damage Caused By His Presidency

Obama January through June 2008 Contributions

The New York Times ran a story in its July 18, 2008 edition, detailing how much money Barack Obama has raised in 2008. The figures come to a total of 237 million raised from January through June. That figure includes two months where he went over 50 million dollars. In fact his worst month, May, was about equal to McCain's best month, which was June of 2008.

According to the Times article, the Obama campaign pointed out that its average contribution for June was $68.00. That figure is interesting for two reasons. One it points out that Obama continues to receive millions of dollars in the form of relatively small contributions. Second, it means that there are a lot of people who can continue to send money to Obama every month because they are way below the allowed contribution limit of $2300.00.

"Psst, Have You Heard? Obama is a Muslim."

The Pew Research Center recently polled Americans on whether they thought that Obama was a Christian, a Muslim, or neither. The poll results are very instructive.

First of all, as shown by the top poll, the number of people who think that he is a Muslim; who don't know, or who don't know enough totals out to 37%. Second, the fact that he is Muslim has more impact on Democrats than on Republicans or independents.

Ninety percent of Democrats who think that Obama is a Christian support him as compared to only five percent who support McCain. Among Democrats who think he is a Muslim or have "heard different things about his religion", his support drops to 62% and McCain's support goes up to 19%. Clearly, getting the message out to Democrats that Obama is a Christian is something that Democrats should be focusing on.

Just in case, by the way, readers of this blog think that only the uneducated or unsophiscated think that Obama is a Muslim, a person we know recently had a psychologist tell him that Obama is a Muslim. The psychologist was surprised when our acquaintance told her that he wasn't.

Another friend of ours had a similar experience when a woman, who he described as "pretty bright" told him that she had reservations about Obama because he was a Muslim. He set her straight, but he wasn't sure whether she believed him or not.
If you are a Democrat, and if you hear this rumor, make sure you tell the person spreading it that it just isn't true. Telling someone that wouldn't take a lot of effort, but it could pay big dividends.

More detail about the Pew survey can be found here.

Obama to Put 300 Paid Staffers in Ohio?

The website www.fivethirtyeight.com, which has gained a reputation this year as being very accurate regarding polls, is reporting that the Obama campaign is putting 300 paid staffers in Ohio. If this is true, this represents a huge investment of the Obama campaign's resources.

Here is a quote from the article:

Amid on the ground reports that McCain is outspending Obama on the air at least 2-1 in places like Missouri, we learn that Obama’s team is betting on a different strategy – overwhelming ground organization early and often.

In Missouri, Obama will have 150 paid organizers and maintain a 12-1 paid organizer edge in my native state. Show-me, indeed. In Michigan, Obama will put an unprecedented 150 field organizers on the ground. In Ohio, why not go for 300 field organizers? That sounds like a nice, absurdly large, round number.

The Obama campaign is betting that personal contact with voters will do more to switch votes than 30 second television ads; that voters are tired of electronic camapigning and will respond to contact with a real person. For years, organized labor has depending on ground organization to get out the vote in support of its candidates. The Bush campaign in 2004 mounted an extensive ground operation, especially among evangelical voters.

One advantage that the Obama campaign has over the McCain operation is that it is more battle-tested. Since the primary campaign with Clinton went into June, the Obama campaign was forced to keep campaigning for months after McCain had wrapped up the Republican nomination. The disadvantage was that it cost money, but the advantage was that it allowed the Obama campaign to continue to refine its operation.

There will be a lot of skeptics among the political chattering class about this tactic. These, of course, will be people who have never done what Barack Obama has done and that is take on and beat the Clintons in a political campaign. No matter who you supported in the primary season, you have to respect what the Obama campaign has accomplished to date. It has a right to be confident about its campaign strategy.

More U.S. Troops in Iraq AFTER the Surge than BEFORE

Bush has consistently told the American public that "as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down." Bush has also consistently told the American public that the "surge" is working. Yet, according to the Associated Press, the surge is now officially over, and yet there are more American troops in Iraq AFTER the surge than BEFORE the surge.

This is true even though Iraqi on Iraqi violence is down and even though more and more Iraqi units are becoming better equipped and trained. This is from the AP article on the number of American troops in Iraq post-surge:

The military surge into Iraq that began more than 18 months ago has ended. But 150,000 U.S. troops remain, as many as 15,000 more than before the buildup began.

In recent days, the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade, the last of the five additional combat brigades sent in by President Bush last year, left the country.

You can read the whole article here.

Republicans Defect, Shrub's Veto of Medicare Bill Overridden

From the Washington Post in an article dated Tuesday, July 15, 2008:

The House voted 383 to 41, and the Senate 70 to 26, to approve legislation that rescinds the pay cuts to doctors, choosing instead to reduce payments to private insurers in a separate Medicare program. Democrats said the legislation prevents doctors from leaving the traditional Medicare program, which handles more than 80 percent of Medicare's mostly elderly patients, and that private fee-for-service insurers were receiving too much funding.

Read full article here.

USA Daily Oil Use Compared to China, Japan, and Russia

The United States, China, Japan and Russia are the world's four biggest users of oil. Daily the USA uses over 21 million barrels of oil, China uses over 7 million, Japan a little over 5 million and the Russians a little over 3 million barrels per day. When Bush and Republicans talk about the US drilling itself out of its energy problems, they very seldom, if ever, talk about how much oil we use compared to other countries.

Right Wing Group Targets John Boccieri With Robocalls

The right-wing group, Freedom's Watch, that has bragged about targeting Democrats in the upcoming elections, is reportedly running robocalls against State Senator John Boccieri in Ohio's 16TH Congressional District. The robocalls are going after State Senator John Boccieri on the issue of high gasoline prices. The way to make sure that this effort isn't successful is to work for John's election as United States Representative.

Senator Sherrod Brown Votes Against FISA Bill, McCain Skips Vote

Senator Sherrod Brown, (D-OH), voted against the FISA bill when it came before the United States Senate on Wednesday. Meanwhile John McCain who assailed Barack Obama for not filibustering a bill that he supports, decided to skip the vote.

Medina Dem's Take on How Compliant Media Has Hurt McCain

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo put out a call today for explanations on why McCain keeps making such horrible statements like calling Social Security a "disgrace." Medina County Democrat David Brown has come up with one explanation that is both intriguing and also counter-intuitive. You can read it here.

His theory is that the national media, by being so soft on McCain, has enabled him by never holding him accountable for the stupid stuff he has said up until this year. Now, however, with the advent of so many media outlets, including websites such as You Tube, it is almost impossible for the media to shield McCain from himself. Check out David's analysis by clicking on the link above. You will enjoy it.

Public Sees McCain as Bigger "Flip-Flopper"

McCain Blows Off Iraq's Prime Minister Comments About Withdrawal Timeline

One of the interesting questions is how the Republicans are going to handle the statements of the Iraqi Prime Minister and other officials about wanting a timeline for the withdrawal of American troops. These comments, as we pointed out earlier, pose a real problem for Bush and McCain. Apparently the Iraqis want a three to five year timeline for withdrawal of American troops. Obama wants a 16 month timeline. What neither wants is what McCain apparently wants, an endless presence of American troops in Iraq.

Apparently the Republican answer is simply to ignore the desires of the Iraq government that American troops have died to help establish. John McCain, on a morning news show, blew off the Prime Minister's comments with the following phrase:
"Prime Minister Maliki is a politician." Translation, "I am not going to do what he wants, I am going to do what I want."

In a report dated July 9, 2008, Bloomberg News Service reported that the Bush Administration is rejecting the Iraqi's government demand for a timeline for the withdrawal of American troops. This is a quote from the article: The U.S. government rejected calls by Iraq to set a timetable for withdrawing troops from the country and said the planned reduction in force levels will be dictated by conditions on the ground.

After we were told that the Iraq War was about weapons of mass destruction, we were then told that the purpose of the war was to establish a democratic state in Iraq. Apparently, however, that only works if Iraq's "democratic" government agrees with Bush, Cheney and McCain. If it actually wants to act like a soverign nation, then it has to first get clearance from the United States.

Medina County Gazette Columnist Quotes MCDAC Blog

John Gladden, an award winning columnist of the Medina County Gazette, quoted this blog in a column dated July 8, 2008. His column was about the reaction to the Gazette series on the "10 most influential people" in Medina County.

Readers of this blog will know that we have criticized the series on its lack of transparency. Although readers were told that the people selected were chosen by an informal survey of government and business leaders, they weren't told what criteria was used, or how the people who were surveyed were chosen.

This is the quote from the article that mentions our blog:

It didn’t take long for the Medina County Democratic Action Committee to take note on its blog with this June 24 posting:

“The Medina County Gazette is running a series on the supposed top-ten ‘movers and shakers’ in Medina County. This list was supposedly generated by taking an ‘informal survey of community and government leaders’ in Medina County. So far, and we have just had profiles of numbers 10 and nine, but this list is looking like a Who’s Who of the Medina County Republican Party … Want to bet what the other eight will have in common?”

In the end, five current or former elected officials made the list — all members of the GOP. A “vast right-wing conspiracy” by the “liberal” media? (Just kidding.)

Its good to know that Medina County reporters and columnists read our blog. We don't always expect them to agree with us, but we do appreciate their attention.

The American Voters Want Us Out of Iraq, the Iraqis Want Us Out of Iraq, Only McCain and Bush Want Us In Iraq

The Iraqi Prime Minister announced at a press conference that there is a small chance of any agreement with the Bush Administration regarding the status of U.S. troops in Iraq. Instead, according to the PM, the Iraqi government wants a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. This puts the Bush Administration and John "McSame" McCain in an interesting position. If both the American public and the Iraqis want us out in a definite time period, then why do they want us to stay in Iraq indefinitely?

This is from the London Times article linked to above:
"The current trend is to reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding either for the departure of the forces or to put a timetable on their withdrawal,” Mr al-Maliki said during a visit to the United Arab Emirates. He rejected efforts by Mr Bush to hurry through an agreement on vital issues such as the immunity of US troops in Iraq and use of the country’s airspace. Mr Bush had hoped to sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by the end of July to establish the basis for a long-term presence of US troops in the country.

It will be much harder for the Bush Administration and the Republicans to attack Obama's plan for a sixteen month withdrawal from Iraq if the Iraqis themselves want a timeline for our withdrawal. Once the idea of a timeline is accepted, then the only negotiating point is how long the timeline should be and how the withdrawal is to be accomplished.

Medina County Gazettee's "Most Influential" List

Okay, so according to the Medina County Gazette, the 10 most influential people in Medina County include eight Republicans, two Democrats, nine men, and one woman. Seven of them are businessmen, two are elected officials, and one is a city manager. Notably absent from the list are any heads of non-profit organizations or any educators. Also notably absent is any elected Democrat, even though Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman has been in office since 1989, is the current President of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and runs the biggest law firm in the county. Also notably absent from the list is Republican State Representative Bill Batchelder, who could become Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.

The pro-business bias of the list may come from the fact that the reporter who prepared the series is also the business reporter for the Gazette. There is no explanation in the article about the criteria used to measure "influence" nor is there any list of who was surveyed for the story. In short, the whole series seems to be something thought up by a business reporter who has a very limited idea of what constitues a "influential person."

The George W. Bush Sewage Plant?

A group of people in San Fransico is pushing the idea of naming a sewage plant after George W. Bush. They are apparently gathering signatures to put the idea on the November ballot in San Fransico. As you can imagine the Republicans are not amused by this idea.

This is from a New York Times article on the idea:

Not surprisingly, those Republicans in a city that voted 83 percent Democratic in 2004 are not thrilled with the idea. Howard Epstein, chairman of the ever-outnumbered San Francisco Republican Party, called the initiative “an abuse of process.”

“You got a bunch of guys drunk who came up with an idea,” Mr. Epstein said, “and want to put on the ballot as a big joke without regard to the city’s governance or cost.”

Actually, the idea of a George W. Bush sewage plant strikes us a very fitting. Remember how the Republicans were trying to get at least one memorial to Ronald Reagan in every state in the Union? Maybe each state could have its own George W. Bush Memorial Sewage Plant.

Dick Cheney's "One Percent Doctrine" and Global Warming

In the book The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind, Suskind points out that Cheney apparently promulgated the so-called "one percent doctrine" after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The doctrine goes like this: If there is a one percent change that a terrorist group might obtain nuclear weapons, or commit some other act of mass terrorism, the United States has to act as such possibility is a 100% certainty.

Now, of course, the ramifications of such a policy are very serious. It can lead to such things as condoning torture, holding people without any explanation, illegally intercepting Americans' conversations, and other unconstitutional acts. It also means that other branches of the American government cannot be informed of what the executive branch is doing because they might disagree with the doctrine.

Putting aside those problems, however, here is a question: Why doesn't Dick Cheney apply the same standard to global warming? There is certainly more than a 1% chance that global warming will occur and occur on a scale that is catastrophic. Yet, the Bush Administration, and other Republican skeptics of global warming would never accept such acting on only a 1% change of global warming occurring.

Apparently, to Dick Cheney, global warming is not nearly as significant as a terrorist attack on the United States, and yet, the consequences of global warming could be far greater than the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks.

Political Junkies and Sport Fans

Politics and sports, especially team sports, have a lot in common. Both involve competition. Both are covered by journalists who love the activity but cannot, or will not, play the game. Both involve teams, and both are closely followed by people who believe that they know more than the professionals.

Most bloggers, even ones who follow politics closely, have never run for office and/or managed a campaign. They don't have the practical experience of people who have done both. This makes them very similar to sports fans. How often have you heard a friend who is a sports fanatic tell you how stupid a coach is, or a team's general manager, or a player, or how bad their decisions were or are?

The same is true, of course, among political junkies. Most of the bloggers who follow politics on the Internet are passionate about their opinions. They want their side to win. As mentioned above, though, they don't have the practical experience of actually doing politics as opposed to talking about politics.

This was brought to mind by this post by Arianna Huffington. Here's a woman who has never managed a political campaign, has only run for office one time herself, and was soundly beaten. She is presuming to give advice to Barack Obama whose team just beat the Clintons and who has both won and lost political campaigns. Which one would you trust when it comes to knowing how to get elected?

2008 Wadsworth, Ohio Blue Tip Parade Pics

The Wadsworth Blue Tip Parade kicks off summer campaigning in Medina County Ohio. Below are scenes from this year's parade provided by Julie Batey, MCDAC Chair and Chair of the Wadsworth Democratic Group.