THIS .......................................
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OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAAAA:

Understanding FISA, the Constitution, and Obama.

Before you threaten to not to vote or donate to Obama, not to work for the Democrats, or not to vote at all, take a short trip over the fold with me to understand all the different forces at play between FISA the Fourth (and other) Amendment and Obama.

So, today, I got up ridiculously early (six, but ridiculously early for a college kid, okay, =P) to go pick up my girlfriend in Manchester and drive an hour to Sunapee to take a shuttle to Unity. What followed was one of the best experiences of my life. Report and pics below the fold!

Update: OMG reclist! Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed the pictures! =)

Recently,I got into a massive political debate with a republican Neighbor. These people are hardcore Republicans--some of the 19% that still support Mr. 19% in the White House. They do not regret their vote for Chimpy McFlightsuit, and believe that he has made the country better. They don't even think that the current Monarch has ever lied to the country. I know I can never really change their mind about who they support, and I cannot sway them from McCain.

However, I do have the ability to sway my father, who was listening to our debate, and wanted to hear my email response with my cited facts and information.

He is a very Independent-minded voter, like most of us here in New Hampshire, and had tended to lean Republican recently (I blame Fox News). However, he does regret Bush and everything to do with him. Maybe I can get him on our side, which is important in a swing state such as mine, New Hampshire.

I started the email describing the first Senate Prewar Intelligence Report, because my neighbor had said that it was led by the democrats and had cleared Bush entirely.

The letter is below the fold.

Terrorist. Fist. Jab.

Also known as the fist bump or fist pound.

What is it?

The venerable wikipedia defines for us:

The fist bump, also called the fist pound, dabs, dap, knucks, and knuckle bump, is a type of friendly gesture similar to a hand shake or a high five. It is performed by two people tapping their fists lightly. A bump also can be known as a symbol of giving of respect. Fist pounds can also be followed by various other hand and body gestures,

So I'm sure you've heard the word Linux floating around at some point. Maybe you've heard that it's another operating system like Mac or Windows, but you never really bothered to learn more. Perhaps you've heard the name of the most popular type of Linux, Ubuntu,  floating around in Daily Kos itself.

Linux desktop-users are not a large contingent in and of themselves. At last estimate, they were only 1% of the entire computer market. However, this was double the previous estimate, and other signs across the globe have pointed to Linux on computers growing even faster.

Let's go over the fold.

I was reading Jason Links over at HuffPo today, and he mentions a curious move by the Clinton Campaign, from a story in the NY Daily News

The next Democratic donnybrook will be in a Washington ballroom.

Busloads of Hillary Clinton supporters will swarm a meeting next week at a D.C. Marriott, where Democratic Party elders hope to forge a compromise over Florida and Michigan's now-voided convention delegates.

"We really don't know what to expect, but we do know that the Clinton people are very organized," said a senior Democratic National Committee source.

Over the fold..

The FEC reports just came in, you can view them here, here and daily raising totals here.

Here is the info about HRC's two loans to herself.

(all commas below added by me)

Weathervane McCain. He swings with the times! As suggested by Batbird a few days ago This nickname is devastating, and perfectly apt. We cant convince the public McCain was always a bad person, because he is so well-known, but what we can do is to suggest to them that in his relentless pursuit of power, he has changed completely.

Follow me over the flip for more...

(I was asked to repeat this diary today, and I will link it in the ongoing superdelegate diary. =))

I would ask you to recommend so everyone can see this and get a chance to vote, but it is really your choice.

According to HuffPo,

The roster of Democratic Party superdelegates is, of course, a list of Very Serious People with years and years of political experience. Also on the list are Lauren and Awais. They're superdelegates who are still in college and majorly procrastinating during finals week by making and posting a YouTube that asks you-- registered voters and YouTube watchers-- who they should vote for at the national convention in August to head the Democratic presidential ticket in the general election. YouTube voting is not the most scientific method of deciding on a candidate, perhaps, but it does make as genuine and laudable an effort at transparency as any other method and is likewise as good as any at capturing the will of the constituency they, as college Democratic Party leaders, are meant to represent.

Video over the flip.

I would ask you to recommend so everyone can see this and get a chance to vote, but it is really your choice.

According to HuffPo,

The roster of Democratic Party superdelegates is, of course, a list of Very Serious People with years and years of political experience. Also on the list are Lauren and Awais. They're superdelegates who are still in college and majorly procrastinating during finals week by making and posting a YouTube that asks you-- registered voters and YouTube watchers-- who they should vote for at the national convention in August to head the Democratic presidential ticket in the general election. YouTube voting is not the most scientific method of deciding on a candidate, perhaps, but it does make as genuine and laudable an effort at transparency as any other method and is likewise as good as any at capturing the will of the constituency they, as college Democratic Party leaders, are meant to represent.

Video over the flip.

LOLcats in this internet age are ubiquitous across the internet. Even in DailyKos our very own DemocraticOz is well-known for his frequent postings of Ceiling Cat starting with this one:

and continuing this tradition until today. LOLcats make frequent appearances in Cheers and Jeers and we have made our own LOLcandidates among other types of LOL-things.

So, where did this wonderful and self-replicating idea actually come from?

As they say, lets go over the fold.

I wrote a short story based on the Oylmpic protests yesterday in Paris. Being an essentially political story, I figured my fellow politics-obsessed Kossacks would enjoy it.

Hope you like it!

(Story owned by the author, etc, etc, all that. :) )

Not too much info has come out yet, but here is LA Times reporting that it is "unlikely, but possible" that Romney will Re enter the race.
(Here)

Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney's five sons, says it's "possible" his father may rejoin the race for the White House, as a vice presidential candidate or as the Republican Party's standard-bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.

Lately we've seem some pretty interesting stuff coming from the Clinton campaign: Xerox Smear and the O'Bomber meme being the latest two. Clinton has taken an increasingly vitriolic edge against Obama, apparently not learning that the negativity hurt her in Wisconsin.

The latest to come out of the campaign is a terrible skewed comparison of Obama to Bush.

More below the fold, as they say.

I recently got an email from the Obama Campaign, asking for individual stories about Obama in order to send these stories to Superdelegates. The email is quoted below the fold, along with a link for sharing your stories.

According to Drudge (yes, I know, ew)

EXIT POLLS SHOW 2:1 OBAMA LEAD OVER HILLARY IN VA AND MD, 3:1 IN DC... DEVELOPING...
HUCKABEE GIVES MCCAIN RUN IN VA: EXITS...

First time voter, and first diary!

This campaign season has been a wild ride. I've been hanging on to it more and more since it began, watching every situation change and shift, whittling down to these last few weeks. By hanging in, of course, I mean checking TPM, HuffingtonPost, and Digg every hour, and even spending days at a time on dKos. And this is the final stretch, the home stretch. The bases are loaded, and I am sick and tired of horse race metaphors. I have a feeling that this campaign will be one for the textbooks, and, and the thing is, we're not even in the general election yet! Wow!

So, why am I so afraid about tomorrow?
I volunteered for the Obama campaign in New Hampshire, in Keene and Manchester, helping out mostly with computer stuff and such. (I have become a master of Excel, or as it's called on Linux, Spreadsheet.) However, in the end...I can recall standing there, at the 'Victory' rally in Nashua, watching as Clinton climbed up from behind to first place.

There's more...(If you're not bored yet. =P)