It's way too early to write a nice long diary, but have to get this out there!

It just dawned on me!

I woke up at 5am CT, put on CNN, and grabbed my coffee.  Thinking back over the last hour, I realized that CNN hasn't mentioned Hillary once!

In 1999, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton came to my home town in Delaware County to announce her "listening tour" as she explored a run for the U.S. Senate in New York.  As New York State goes, it doesn't get much more rural and small town than Delaware County, bordering on northeastern PA.

8 years later, I can assure everyone that folks in Delaware County are indeed the kind of bitter Obama was talking about.  And the bitterness, it turns out, results from exactly what Obama blames it on.

This crap has really been pissing me off!  Everybody knows that you salute the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance and simply face the flag during the National Anthem.  I learned that in 1st grade!!!

And, I'm sorry, but a lapel pin does not a patriot make!

So last night, I decided to look it up,  and, damn, I was shocked to see that, according to the U.S. Flag Code, one is supposed to salute the flag when it is displayed during the national anthem, or the music if it is not.

"Just Words" - these two simple words, the cadence used to punctuate great lines from american oratory, words for which Obama was accused of plagiarism today by the Clinton campaign, were delivered at the Wisconsin Founders' Day Gala on Saturday, and were since attributed to his trusted friend and advisor, Deval Patrick.

Yet at the very same Gala, Clinton claimed a few words for her own, and failed to attribute them to the author herself.

Yesterday, I asked folks to take a moment and consider the nomination (and election) process as if they were hiring a person for an important job in 'our organization.  We looked at the constitutional and historical foundations of the U.S. Presidency, and created a possible Job Description to guide us in our selection process.

Today, I'd like to take a look at the qualifications of our two top candidates for the role of Head of State beginning with his or her duties as the National Leader.

Much has been written on these pages about the two remaining Democratic candidates for President, and which has more experience, judgement, winability, or inevitability.

I imagine, in spite of what some might write, that most of us will be lining up in November to cast our vote for the Democratic nominee, regardless of who he or she is.  Nonetheless, it is time for us as Democrats to take our responsibility seriously and nominate the right applicant for the job that is "The President of the United States of America".  So what exactly is that job, and which of the two candidates is best qualified?  Over the next few days, I will attempt to match up the job description with the resumés of the two candidates.

  As a Democrat Abroad, I've commented previously on the sorry state of our Foreign Service around the world.  I have a new "duh" moment, and need a bit of help!!  I'm looking for dirt on William Henry Harrison, possibly soon to be honored with the naming of a new Embassy building in Latin America.  History buffs and sleuths, time to get to work!

Yesterday, Senator Joe Lieberman was elected de facto Vice President of the United States and President of the United States Senate!

Although the one loss I truly mourn from yesterday's elections was Ned Lamont, there might be a silver lining here - Dick Cheney has now become as irrelevant as a freshman back-bencher for the Republicans, and former Democratic Senator and Vice Presidential nominee Joe Lieberman, though now technically an independent Senator from Connecticut, now assumes the Article I powers of the U.S. Constitution, and then some!  The argument can be made that we now have a Democratic Vice President - bear with me here...