The Washington Post is rightfully attacking China's refusal to allow international experts into Sichuan to help in relief experts, arguing correctly that such refusal not only endangers its own citizens, but provides ideological shelter for the Burmese Junta's similar approach to Monsoon relief:

Yet China is contributing to the mounting man-made disaster in Burma even as it rescues its own citizens. The communist government has adopted the position that it will welcome international aid for earthquake victims, but not foreign aid workers -- the same xenophobic stance that Burma's military junta has taken...

More below the fold...

My heart is on the other side of the world right now.

After all, everyone knows what will happen today in West Virginia, and I'm no longer in the mood for the kabuki theater of a "race" already over.

My thoughts are with the peoples of Burma and China.  When I heard about the monsoon in Burma, I knew that the casualties would be high, and that the junta would botch it as badly as they could.  I knew that the US and UN would flap their arms about, and yet very little would get accomplished.

And when I heard about the earthquake in Sichuan, I knew again that the suffering would be immense.  I knew that, while the Chinese government would doubtless spring to the rescue with its massive army and also accept international aid without hesitation, the endemic corruption, lax oversight, and the relentless drive to develop had already sewn the seeds of death.  Unfortunately, this too was true.  Pictures of the pancaked buildings, including schools, built in a rush with cheap concrete and a smattering of rebar, meant instant death for tens of thousands.

I want the Daily Kos community to be the first to know that I'm prepared to drop my run for the White House if Senator Obama pays me several million dollars.  It's true that, mathematically, I've essentially been eliminated (although I could win all the remaining pledged delegates, flip all of the supers, and then convince some of the pledged delegates to vote for me).  But, let's say, for argument's sake, that doesn't happen.

I'm willing to graciously step aside and support the Obama/Bowl ticket in 2008, a ticket that I believe will be successful.  As a white male Buddhist, I can offer the religious white male vote pretty convincingly.  And, while Maryland is not a swing state, it's technically part of the south, so I think that's pretty good, too.

From The Politico, quoting Barack in NC:

I will tell you it does not get more fun than these debates. They are inspiring debates.  I think last night we set a new record because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people.

It took us 45 minutes — 45 minutes before we heard about health care, 45 minutes before we heard about Iraq, 45 minutes before we heard about jobs, 45 minutes before we heard about gas prices.

Now, I don’t blame Washington for this because that’s just how Washington is. They like stirring up controversies and getting us to play gotcha games and getting us to attack each other. And I’ve got to say Sen. Clinton looked in her element.

ABC handed Hillary a Pyrrhic victory last night.

And don't think the American people didn't take note.

Update III visit Kath25's diary (just posted) to learn more about different volunteer opportunities.

This is news that should lift the hearts of those of us who believe in the better nature of Americans.  Hillary's attacks (aka John McCain's attacks) are, for the most part, failing.

Why?  For one, there's really nothing to her attacks.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D), an undecided superdelegate who represents Pittsburgh and surrounding towns in the Monongahela Valley, said yesterday that he was not particularly troubled by Obama's comments.

"I don't disagree with a lot of what he said. My dad was a mill worker. My grandfather was a steel mill worker, and when the steel industry collapsed, nobody's family was hurt more than mine," Doyle said. "It's not inaccurate to say a lot of politicians have come through these towns, made a lot of promises and failed to deliver. I thought he was spot-on when he said how people feel."

If only the US press could be as honest and as funny to admit that Hillary just decided to tell a bald-faced lie.  How humorless have we gotten that we're not able to simply laugh at the ridiculousness of the Clinton campaign in its last throes.

While we're treated to the he-said, she-said "misspeaking" of the New York Times, newspaper readers in Belfast actually enjoyed themselves this morning:

Anyone can make a mistake about what happened on a trip, [Hillary] said, and she's right. You might forget the name of the couple you met on the beach, or whether Thursday was the day you came under sustained mortar attack and had to dive behind sandbags and shoot your way out to safety, or was it the day you went to the dolphinarium.

Yes.  Finally!  I mean, she was with Sinbad.  That's a pretty gruesome story right there.  She doesn't have to say she was under sniper fire, but that she had to listen to Sinbad jokes the whole flight over.

Only Hillary could have made Sinbad not only culturally relevant in 2008, but actually a sympathetic figure!

But let me leave the humor to the professionals, below the fold.

This is a story about a presidential candidate who gave a nice speech that didn't really do anything.  A story about a candidate who would welcome an acknowledged butcher to the White House with full military honors.  A story about a candidate who talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk.

It's a story, of course, about Hillary Clinton.

In 2009, we are going to need to get some work done.  Thanks to George Bush and an enabling Congress, we've got an overextended military in the wrong country, we've got an economy plummeting towards recession, and we've got a health care crisis.

Hillary Clinton's main argument has been that she will be ready to start putting the pieces back together on day one.  But, as the LA Times discusses in detail in tomorrow's paper, her own campaign has been wrought with feuding, rivarly, and the turf wars common to Washington, and uncommon to success.

Big news, because often the Blade will sit out primary endorsements.  But the board felt the need to take a stand.  It is a powerful endorsement that appears front and central on the Blade's homepage

We are not yet ready to say who we will endorse in November. But we wholeheartedly agree with something our editorial board heard on Sunday: 'We have to have a government that works for ordinary people. We've got to be able to bring the country together so we have a working majority for change. We have to break down some of the ideologically driven polarization that prevents us from taking practical steps to make the country more competitive and to get opportunity to people.'

We urge Ohio Democrats to vote on Tuesday for the man who spoke those words, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. It has become clear during the year-long primary campaign that he eclipses Sen. Hillary Clinton as the strong­est possible candidate to run in the general election against the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.

Sorry for the quick diary, but this is a really important moment that just happened on MSNBC.  Sheila Jackson Lee, getting interviewed by KO right now, just offered the following (warning: rough paraphrase):

Well, Hillary, you know, Martin Luther King had a famous quote, about taking the American people to the mountaintop.  I think Senator Clinton took America to the mountaintop tonight.

In the interest of fairness and goodwill, I'm not going to take issue with the comparison to Dr. King.  There's an important follow up to that quote that Rep. Lee has to be conscious of, below the fold.

There's an important opinion piece in the LA Times this morning about the growing support in Latino populations for Barack Obama.

It was hard not to notice that, in the Chesapeake Primary last Tuesday, Obama won the Latino vote in Virginia 54-46, and won them in Maryland as well.

More below the fold:

Because this diary is about my substantive experience as a diarist, it's Time to pick a diarist.  There are other diarists out there with higher user ID numbers, and, while they may be better writers, it is time to pick a...wait, not working for you?

READY TO LEAD

Sure, I've been kind of absent around here on the diary front lately, but, come on, I used to be a really popular diarist, and lots of people read my stuff.  I am ready to lead, ready to write...no?

THE ZENBOWL I KNOW

Lots of people think I'm a good guy.  Really!  You can ask them.  My wife, for one.  Also, my daughter.  Hey, and this randomly selected Zenbowl fan who is a member of Pipefitters Local... still?  Not really?  OK, I've got another one for you.

All this talk about the Obama folks being short-sighted cult haters has always rung false to me.  The folks I know here in Maryland who support Obama are true-blue Democrats who know right from wrong.  So, this Sunday, when I went with my daughter to the Montgomery County Democratic brunch, I went with good will and Obama buttons for us both.

Unfortunately, that good will was too often not met by the very same folks who push this meme about the Obama "cult."  But it was what someone said to my little girl that put me over the top.

Not much I can add to a powerful endorsement from Maryland's top paper.  Any endorsement that begins "George W. Bush's presidency can't end soon enough" is all right by me:

When Marylanders vote in Tuesday's presidential primary, both Democratic choices are promising a new political era for this century, and each has the intellect and the skills to deliver. Hillary Clinton, with her years in Washington and most recently in the Senate representing New York, brings rich experience. She is tough and keenly focused, pragmatic and driven. But Barack Obama, her Senate colleague from Illinois, offers a more compelling vision for the country that he would lead. He wants to forge a new reality in Washington where consensus replaces confrontation. And he has shown a remarkable ability to enroll a diverse array of Americans in his cause, convincing a new generation that it too has a stake in Washington.

That's why The Sun strongly endorses Mr. Obama as the Democratic nominee for president.

Those of you who are familiar with me know that I'm not an instinctive China basher.  There is much to be said for working with Chinese citizens, promoting change, and even doing business with Beijing when it's done responsibly and transparently.

Unfortunately, responsiblity and transparency have never been two hallmarks of the way the Clintons have dealt with China.  Now that Hillary is dipping into the personal family reserves to pay for her campaign, I think it's only fair that we look at where that $5 million came from.

Today, I'm breaking diary silence to talk about one speech Bill Clinton gave in 2002.  It's an open secret that he gave a Feb 22. 2002 speech to the Australian Association for Promoting Peaceful Reunification of China, netting $300,000 in the process.  Why this matters, below the fold.

As an Obama supporter, I can think of no better New Year's gift than a poorly-sourced, ranty, angry smear of Obama from this site's main proprietor.  Thanks, Markos!  Your track record of endorsements, plus the handy "Angry Edwards places third" narrative you've offered the media, makes my day.

Running on anger is what sunk the Dean campaign, and, if Edwards wants this angry nonsense, he's welcome to it.  Calling Obama a Republican, accusing him of attacking Al Gore, and all the other ridiculous tripe that has been regurgitated up on the front page, this is the icing on my sweet, sweet, Tatafornow cake.

I'm not leaving you, angry blogosphere, I just have no use for you right now.  Not when you're this angry, when you're this paranoid, and particularly not when you make me angry and paranoid.

You don't give me any insights that I can't get from friends, the media, or other sources, you don't help me facilitate change (that requires, you know, action in the real world), and now you think my candidate is a bit player in the VRWC.

So, TTFN, Angry Blogosphere.  I might be tuning back in after the primaries, when the front page is once again a source of meaningful commentary and the diaries aren't so, well, shitty.

Crossposted at One Million Strong

A new quick piece via the Boston Globe tonight is definitely worth a peek.  The story line?  Barack Obama continues to attract the ever-important undecided voters to events, in contrast to other candidates.  We all know that every candidate can turn out the choir.  But which candidate can bring in new folks?

crossposted at One Million Strong

When I was ten, I had a teacher who was from Japan.  I'll call her Mrs. Tanaka.  Mrs. Tanaka had been born near Nagasaki just a year after Fat Man killed tens of thousands of Japanese.

Mrs. Tanaka had married a Navy man who eventually became a teacher in the United States, and she followed him into that line of work.  She came to live in an Ohio town, where she taught third graders math, science, spelling, and how to fold paper cranes.  I met her when I was ten.