that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?That's a pretty big beam, my conservative friends. Start doing something about it before we see any more innocent people killed.
 Clinton’s Name Will Be Put in Nomination By JEFF ZELENY    The Obama and the Clinton camps have negotiated a roll-call strategy for the Democratic convention.  
[LINK] "Superpower swoop"Misha Glenny's New Statesman article "Superpower swoop" enunciates some of my worst fears about the recent conflict in the Caucasus.  Georgia's decision to seize large parts of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, on the evening of 7 August was a disastrous political miscalculation, even in an era that is increasingly defined by spectacularly poor judgement.Within three days of the assault, Russian forces had responded by in effect neutralising Georgia's military capacity, which President Mikhail Saakashvili's government in Tbilisi had spent several years and considerable sums of money building up.Clearly, Russia has been goading and provoking the Georgian government for several years into making the big mistake. The parastates of Abkhazia and, above all, South Ossetia, have been under the control of a toxic coalition of criminals and both former and serving FSB officers. Russian soldiers have been acting as their protectors under the guise of a peacekeeping mission, preventing Georgia's attempts to seek a negotiated reintegration of the two areas. The Georgian crisis has benefited the standing of hardliners in Moscow, still aggrieved at Vladimir Putin's decision to place the moderate, business-friendly Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin.But under the influence of an energetic neo-con lobby in Washington, and with considerable support from Israeli weapons manufacturers and military trainers, Saakashvili and the hawks around him came to believe the farcical proposition that Georgia's armed forces could take on the military might of their northern neighbour in a conventional fight and win.[. . .][T]he neocons in Washington have been pushing Georgian and Ukrainian membership [in NATO] as a critical goal for the maintenance of the western alliance. By cranking up the dispute with Russia over Nato, Cheney is shifting the political debate in the US away from the state of the economy and towards the issue of national security.If the presidential election is fought on the former issue, Barack Obama is a shoo-in. But if the central issue is national security and who would be best at dealing with a major crisis like Georgia, then his Republican opponent, John McCain, has to be favourite. McCain's response to Georgia was almost as tough as Cheney's, explained in part by the fact that until May this year his chief foreign policy adviser was working as a lobbyist for Saakashvili.  Just great.
  AP file photo  Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, and Sen. Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham Clinton's name will be placed in nomination along with nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, an emblematic move intended to unite the party after a divisive primary.During the Denver gathering, Democrats will officially choose Obama to run against Republican John McCain this fall, but the state delegations will do a traditional roll call for their nominee's vanquished primary opponent as well.Obama and Clinton -- fierce rivals then, reluctant allies now -- agreed to the arrangement after weeks of negotiations between their respective aides. The two sides made the announcement Thursday in a collegial joint statement.Read the full story
Sorry I have been away so long. I got a phone call from the principal at Sequoyah High, close to Sweetwater, Tn, to come in for an interview just three Mondays ago. I interviewed on Tuesday and found out that I had the job just two Mondays ago and had to move by Tuesday and start getting my class set up and attend a lot of meetings. Finally last week was my first week of teaching but I have had to work extra hard to be prepared for that. So I have been away for a time. I hope you are following the price of gas fall. I predicted it a couple months ago when President Bush lifted the executive band on drilling. This was a step in the right direction and made speculators bid lower prices for oil due to the possibility that Congress will finally get their act together and lift their ban on drilling. If that happens Oil prices will fall another 25 dollars quickly just as it has 25 dollars just recently. Gas will dip another $.25 over the next couple or three weeks unless the markets change again. But as of now it should be close to an average of 3$3.30 which means around where most of you live it will be closer to $3.15. This will still take a few weeks and it also depends on nothing changing between now and then. Lets hope that happens.  It is my opinion that John McCain is polling this close to Obama because of the drilling thing. With the War in Iraq going well the attention has shifted to the economy. The economy is being hampered dramatically by gas prices amongst other things. Republicans have an advantage on oil prices and thus unless Obama switches his position on it as other economic positions, the polls should remain close. Something that no one could have predicted a few months ago with the hype of Obama stirring around the liberal leaning media.  I will soon hopefully have my work here caught up and start blogging again soon. I will soon start a series on our founding documents and the impact of God in our country early on in our history. I will discuss the originality of the phrase : Separation of Church and State. It should be interesting. I hope you tune in.
 “We, the people of the great (or not) state of Topsyturvistan are proud (or not) to nominate (or not) Hillary Clinton (or not) as the next President (or not) of these great (or not) United (or not) States of America! (or not!)”The clock’s ticking down to the Democratic convention and the party finds itself where it usually does every four years, acting like a bunch of crazed hamsters escaping their cages only to put their fuzzy little heads upon the Republicans’ chopping block. If they aren’t careful, we’ll see another demonstration that hamsters really can run around like chickens with their heads cut off, even if the executioner is so old he needs Karl Rove to help him swing the axe.After months of negotiations as tense as those between Georgian and Russian peace negotiators, Hillary will formally be placed in nomination for the Presidency. The nomination is an exercise in making the best of a really crappy situation. In the process, it will probably make no real difference to the democratic cause while simultaneously giving Republicans yet another chance to portray Democrats as the party of the big tent - unfortunately, one with beavers gnawing at the tent poles.Clintonistas seem to be all over the map as to the advisability of this political stagecraft. The cooler heads think she should have been the nominee, but agree that the “old white haired dude” isn’t a viable alternative to the new Messiah. At the other end of the spectrum are those whose clarion call is, “Hell no, we ain’t getting over it!” This group breaks into subcategories. Category 1 are those who’ve already jumped ship to Walnut’s dingy. Cat 2 voters who’ve jumped ship for a less-odious, but ultimately just as democratically damaging, alternative. And Cat 3, those who believe this isn’t all a pre-fixed masquerade that can be changed by loud protests and full-page newspaper ads.
 Iowa Resident, YouTube Democratic Convention Contest Winner Latest American Voice Coming Together for Change in DenverYouTube Users Vote Iowa City's Rich Peters as Community Favorite in National Online Video Contest: Why Are You a Democrat in 2008?Peters Will Attend Denver Convention, Join Barack Obama on Campaign Trail as Member of Press Pool DENVER, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the culmination of a national call for members of the YouTube community to lend their voices to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Rich Peters of Iowa City, Iowa was announced today as the winner of the YouTube Convention video contest answering the question: Why are you a Democrat in 2008?(Logo: cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/DNCCLOGO )In his video, Peters explains why he believes Democrats are better-suited to address the issues he cares most about - the Iraq war, the environment, health care and the economy. The video can be viewed here: youtube.com/watch?v=FJ0J2zbtqjg."This campaign is history. This is the first time that we - the people - can actually be a part of the conversation; we are not simply listening, we are being listened to," said Peters, after learning of his selection. "The people have become a party to the conversation, and in a few days, I intend to serve as a bridge for the YouTube community in continuing that historic conversation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver."As the winner, Peters is invited to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month and see his winning video played before thousands of delegates, elected officials and other Convention guests. YouTube will also send Peters on the campaign trail for a day, where as a member of the traveling press pool, he will have the opportunity to record a video documenting the daily activities of the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama."We look forward to having Rich join us in Denver for this history-making event," said Aaron Myers, Director of Online Communications for the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC). "We were very impressed by the number of creative and thoughtful video submissions we received from all across the country. It's indicative of the enthusiasm and energy behind Senator Barack Obama headed in to our Convention, where we will welcome the voices of Americans coming together for change."After receiving hundreds of video submissions, the DNCC announced five finalists last week and invited members of the YouTube community to vote for their favorite. Thousands answered the call in recent days. Each of the five finalists' videos can be viewed at demconvention.Representing varied areas of the country, the other finalists were Cathrin Winsor from Temple, Tex.; Timothy McDonald from Traverse City, Mich.; Morgan Harper from Atlanta, Ga.; an