Illinois should go to a military strongman form of government.

Instead of the pretense of representative democracy, we should submit to one of those charismatic, totalitarian dictators with the Captain Kangaroo get-up who makes people disappear.

After all, isn't that what the "Chicago 9" are doing?

Yesterday I posted about an email promoting disunity that was sent out to the mailing list of the Lyon County Democrats.  I forwarded this email to various people and then did some investigating on my own.  Initially I believed that Carrisa Snedecker was behind the email.  I believed this because I knew she had access to the mailing list and that she had misused this information in the past.  She has also behaved unethically while holding leadership positions in the local party.  While I still believe that Carrisa is ultimately behind this attempt to disrupt the party, the email did not originate from her.

How do I know?

NEVADA LYON CO. DEMS---

TO ALL OF YOU HILLARY SUPPORTERS... You don't HAVE TO fall in line!!
It's not over!   Nationally:    http://18millionvoices.blogspot.com
      locally:  http://hrclinton.blogspot.com/...

--If you are for Obama, and you are having second thoughts!
          It's not over!   Nationally:   http://18millionvoices.blogspot.com
      Locally:   http://hrclinton.meetup.com

--If you're, just...Obama's:  May the best man win in August!!    

Thanks all for your time!
nevadavoices@yahoo.com

TEEN "TECHNO-VIRGINS" (PART TWO)

For some reason, Part One of this very mini-series resulted in quite a rise in interest.  Some clarification is in order.  

Salon.com had published a piece by Lynn Harris, entitled, "The Rainbow Party Is Over,"  http://www.salon.com/... which I referenced in Part One on July 13th, 2008.  

I had not given the details or even an explanation of Harris’ title, and, out of delicacy, nor does she except to provide a link which obfuscates the subject even more, except to say, "rainbow parties are group oral sex parties in which each girl wears a different shade of lipstick, and each guy tries to emerge sporting every one of the various colors."  (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/fashion/thursdaystyles/30rainbow.html)  

That 3 year old article assumes the reader can figure the location of the various lipstick stains, but dismisses it all as "suburban legend" and cites a 4 year old study that found that only 12 % of teen girls, 13-17, (now 50 %), had engaged in oral sex and a minuscule number had attended oral sex parties of any sort.  

Published July 14th, 2008

As the world breathlessly awaits his next film, W, I took a peek at Oliver Stone’s bio in Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/...

(For the rest of this article, please see http://genelalor.com/...

After propping up and backing up Nouri al-Maliki for years, the Bush administration was handed its worst nightmare when the Iraqi Prime Minister called for a timetable for troop withdrawals.

How did they respond? The White House fell back on its own old tricks, calling Maliki "misinformed" on Iraq and that he does not understand what it's like to see his own people die.

The story: Bush Calls Maliki "Weak" on Iraq

I've contributed through ActBlue in 2006 and 2008 to several campaigns. I want to see my contribution used for ads, for mailers to voters, for pizzas for phone bankers. I don't want to see it used for postage to me.

To those who send me newsletters, mailers, solicitations - you're wasting your time, my time, and both our money. They go into the garbage. Unopened. As I've told those who call, I do all my contributing online. And I don't open the emails from the campaigns, either. Those emails make me less likely, not more likely, to contribute. They make me think "hmm, maybe I shouldn't contribute to any new candidates, because I'll just get more mail and more email."

Are there others out there who feel the same? Take the poll! Candidates and staffers reading DKos, this is something you can do for the community that is trying to support you; fix this problem. I have a suggestion after the jump..

In the course of events described in this diary last week, I did something I would otherwise not do: I sent an Email to the Obama campaign from my primary business Email address. I felt that I had to: I was forwarding the controversial E-mail described in the diary.
They didn't bother to respond... so imagine my surprise when I got an Unsolicited Commercial Email -- that's right, SPAM -- from the Obama campaign, asking if I had "Visited the Obama store lately?"

Not much of a diary. More a collection of zingers you can use in your sig line or make into a bumper sticker.

John McCain: Older Than Spam

McCain was born Aug 29 1936. Spam was introduced July 5 1937.

John McCain is aware of the Internet

So says his deputy e-campaign director Mark Soohoo. Mr. Soohoo also said

You don’t actually have to use a computer to understand how it shapes the country.

McCain's is the Single Prayer Health Plan.

Pray that you won't get sick.

John McCain: 5% Maverick 95% Bush

I am being generous here by using 2007 voting record. In 2008 he was 100% with Bush.

John McCain: The Full Bush.

I loved this idea, and thanks to wikipedia, Google Image search, and a Canon camera, we have
Older Than Spam: Visual Edition

When I started, I hoped he would be older than landmark institutions, such as Social Security, but alas, Social Security beat him onto the planet by a year. Comments welcome!

No. That’s not his new campaign slogan* (though it could be).

And, though technically true that McCain has endured longer than Spam, the two birthdates actually share the same fiscal year* (exciting stuff!!)

And that’s just the beginning of the awesome stuff these two have in common. Check this out!

Spam is on the rise. Yes, your email box is full. Yes, Rethug trolls and Hillarybots keep flooding blogs with lies about Obama.

But that's not what I'm talkin' about.

I'm talking Spam. With a capital S.

Read more if your stomach can stand it.

I'm a bit unhappy about one of the Democratic insurgents that has gotten good press here.  Joe Garcia, who's running against the awful Mario Diaz-Balart, is spamming me with push polls.  I don't live in Florida or have any connection to his district.  But he seems to have contracted with Versatil Marketing of Hollywood, FL to spam the world with a "push poll".  I've gotten at least three copies.

As a rule, I never do business with spammers.  Even though the you-CAN-spam Act makes it legal under some circumstances (rules not even followed by Versatil's mailings from "yourloaded4u.com"), it's evil.  I sometimes give the benefit of the doubt to somebody whose name might be used without his consent by a spammer.  But unless Garcia proves that this push poll is just a plot to make him look like a filthy spammer, I'll assume he is.

How should the netroots respond?

I've been reading Kos daily for over 2 years now and have really enjoyed the community here.  In all that time, though, I've never written a diary, as I really just enjoyed seeing everyone's takes on different things here.  But today I finally feel like I have something I want to post.

A Red Herring is defined thusly:

In literature, a red herring is a narrative element intended to distract the reader from a more important event in the plot, usually a twist ending.
The term "red herring" originates from the tradition whereby young hunting dogs in Britain were trained to follow a scent with the use of a "red" (salted and smoked) herring (see kipper). This pungent fish would be dragged across a trail until the puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odor of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (which has a much stronger odor) across the animal's trail at right angles. The dog would eventually learn to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent.

(wikipedia)

Ever since Hillary lost 11 contests in a row, the states of Florida and Michigan have become an almost daily topic for her, a former president, even a former first daughter. Aping their points were Mark Penn, Howie Wolfson (almost daily, in the mornings), McCauliffe, Davis, Gurin, and countless others, pretending to wear the white hat, demanding equality for "Everyone", and somehow claiming that imposing rules that everyone agreed to was just plain unfair.

So here's the story, it's been a while since it happened (actually about a month ago) but it was a defining moment for me. I got one of those ridiculous emails under the auspices of teaching me about John McCain's patriotism that ultimately slammed Obama for the Pledge of Allegiance crap. Catch was it wasn't sent to any of my personal emails and wasn't sent anonomously. It was sent to my work email from someone to everyone in an Industry/Armed Forces Association I belong to that I probably shouldn't reveal for chance of further reprisals.

Read on after the jump:

Hillary Clinton thinks my name is "Samantha" and she stole my email address from somewhere. In spite of having tried to delete myself from their email list about 175 times now, they keep writing to me. So sometimes when I get Samantha's mail in my super-secret, ultra-private inbox that is totally unlisted anywhere and everywhere, I feel it is my moral obligation to write back to them.

Today, I got this letter from Geoff Garin and he wanted my feedback.

Being a charming sort of a human being, I never turn down a request for feedback. Especially for political spammers.

Like last night when I got a phone call from Citizens United, who informed me, as I stirred my son's macaroni and cheese (Amy's) that they were the "most powerful conservative group in America," to which I replied, "well Goddamned congratulations on tracking down the least conservative family in America, and by the way Carolyn, go fuck yourself for interrupting my dinner." So okay, I admit I have a wee bitty bit of a temper with "privacy violations."

But back to my reply to Garin...

For two years my inbox has been filling up with spam from Hillary, Bill, Chelsea, Patti Solis Doyle, Mark Penn, Maggie Williams, and now Geoff Garin. I've told them politely and, sometimes less politely that I'm an Obama supporter and please stop bugging me, to no avail. So from now on, I'm publishing my responses to them, and filling their inboxes with my favorite press clippings. If you're having the same problem, I urge you to do the same! When you forward your favorite daily articles and diaries to friends and family, make sure to cc: the Clintons... and please vote in the poll!!!