Just downloaded off of MeTube, the campaign ad that HRC's team is gonna launch this week...

OPENING SHOT:  A dark room, just a bit of moonlight streaming in.
The phone rings.

VOICEOVER:  When the red phone rings at 3:00AM, don't you want the person answering it to have as much experience as possible?

PHONE VOICE:  Madame President?...

Nebraska Democrats broke new ground this year by holding caucuses in early February, with a huge turnout and, as tends to happen, an equally huge win for Obama.  Nebraska's "regular" primary isn't until May, and the Demcrats agreed that whatever the popular vote, the delegate selection made in the caucuses would be the distribution.  

A couple of days ago, Nebraska Democratic super delegate Vince Powers floated the idea that Nebraska's superdelegates would agree to abide by the popular vote, winner take all (with the exception of allegedly Democratic Senator Ben Nelson).  But the state party shot the idea down today.    

I'm sure most of you will recall that shortly after 9/11/2001, there were several instances of anthrax (or what was identified as "anthrax") mailed to to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News the New York Post, the National Inquirer, and Democratic Senators Daschele and Leahy.  Five people died and many more became ill.  There was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth.  

But much like finding the elusive Osama bin Laden, the Feds never seemed to be able to trace the letters down to any person or group.  More distressing is the fact that no one seems to care any more.  

Looks like born-again Democrat Tony Raimundo will kick off his campaign for Chuck Hagel's (R-NE) seat Monday the 25th.  Scott Kleeb, Nebraska's DILF (figure it out) still hasn't said what he's going to do.  But with Raimundo's campaign finally off the ground, at least the Nebraska Democratic Party (NDP) will have something other than a blank space in the primaries come May.  The question is:  will this be a place holder or will the NDP really try to get someone elected?

Update Kossack and Draft Scott Kleeb guru Mike Nellis says Kleeb is in.  Outstanding.  

It's cold.  And it's supposed to snow again tomorrow thru Weds.  Why in the hell do I stay here?

Like Garth Brooks, I've got friends in low places.  So I sent an email off to my friend Luciel Baal Pendragon of the firm Pendragon, Gideon, Mephisto & Scratch in the Infernal Kingdom of Hades, asking him if he had any inside information on Bill O'Reilly's allegation about Kos readers.

His response follows.

(The background on this letter comes from The Stellar Almanac:  A History And Tour Guide of the Infernal Kingdom of Hades ISBN 087707-137-3, by P. Scott Hollander published in 1974 by Apollo/Athena Enterprises.  The book is long since out of print but may be found with used or rare book dealers.  Or I could arrange for you to have one.  Just sign here on the contract.  Blood is fine.  

I received the following mass email from the Nebraska Democratic Party Chairman Steve Achepohl just a few minutes ago:

Earlier today, Tony Raimondo switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat.

 But wait!  There's more! I also got an email from the Draft Scott Kleeb people:

In case you haven't seen it yet, today's big news is that Scott Kleeb posted a video on his website laying down a challenge to voters and activists to make this race their own.

Click here to see the video.

While Scott stops short of an announcement, he certainly puts gasoline on the Senate race fire.  

That's one way to put it.

Okay, just a clever title.  But the hoo-hah about Rudy Giuliani and his succession of girlfriends has just about reached critical mass.  Presidential (or high-level politician) screwing around is as common as... as... presidential screwing around. Let's look at the record:

NB:  I won't even go into Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, or James Buchanan who didn't even have a wife, mistress, or even platonic girlfriend.  So what does that mean, hmmm????

Anyway, here's a brief list of Presidential level foolings-around.  I have neither time nor space to get into Senatorial, Congressional, gubernatorial, or dog-catcheral messing about.

Nebraska Congressman Lee Terry (R-1st district, Omaha and surrounding area) thinks we are spending too much on "earmarked" appropriations in the coming spending bills.  During the GOP domination, earmarks pork spending was de rigeur.  The Democrats have reduced it by 25%.  But Terry thinks that's still too much [and, for the record, so do I], and being spent on stupid things including a "hippie museum to Woodstock." (1)

Terry has pledged not to introduce any pork spending bills for his district.  Good for him.  But did he hold the same position prior to 2006?  The rest of the story after the break.

[Cross posted on my newly revived blog, To The Barricades (shameless plug)

This article is written for the benefit of those who don't live in Nebraska, or otherwise don't care about football.  Nebraskans can skip over this.  Besides, I don't want any hate mail.

It has nothing to do with politics, government, society, the economy, or even sesquipedalian amphigory.  But in Nebraska it is the equivalent of the Emperor running up the white flag in Baghdad and leading a quick-time bailout from Iraq.  

Nebraska lost to Colorado, 66-51 yesterday.  And, to no one's surprise, Coach Bill Callahan and all his assistants, trainers, and sycophants have been sacked (for those of you who don't know anything about football, that was a brilliant pun).

Yesterday, Jon Bruning made it official:  he bailed out of the Nebraska Senate race in the face of an inevitable Mike Johanns victory (at least in the primary).  He said nobody asked him to quit, nobody suggested he quit, he just did it for the team.  But his day will come:  

"If I do my job, political opportunities will come,’’ said Bruning, who is serving his second term as attorney general. "The timing wasn’t with me this time, but I’m confident the time will come someday.’’

So we haven't seen the last of him in various races for offices.  But will we see him actually elected?

In 1968, George W. (I'm not making this up) Romney, father of Mitt Romney was a serious challenger to Richard Nixon (you may remember him).  That is, until he shot himself in the foot, knee, and groin by claiming that he had been "brainwashed" on the Vietnam war.  Could this happen again?

Nebraska Attorney General and US Senate candidate Jon Bruning seems to follow the George Bush model of enforcing the law:  if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to follow it.  Not only that, but when someone points out that he's not following the law, he gets downright snotty.  

Seems Mr. Bruning hasn't filed a single Equal Housing Opportunity case since he took office six years ago.  Now the USEEOC threatens to yank funding for the Nebraska EEOC because no lawsuits have been filed.

Here's the rest of the story:

Omaha mayor Mike Fahey took himself out of consideration for the Democratic nomination to run for Senate against former governor Mike Johanns.  That leaves one candidate with any recognition:  Scott Kleeb.  And Scott has hit the critical issue on the head:  compared to the cost of his campaign for the 3rd Congressional District, a statewide Senate campaign "would be far more expensive."

Let me make it clear that in principle I am in agreement with Duke 1676's article.  A progressive plan for immigration reform The idea that the middle class is being screwed by a government under the control of Big Business goes back two centuries.  Of course it's no less true now than then.  But, as the writer himself asks, why are things different now?

It may be partially true that the "immigration crisis" is a handy straw man for the right to use to distract folks from other problems.  But that is the right using a situation to their advantage, rather than the cause itself.  

Instead, I submit that the recent (past 20 years, really) influx of workers from Latin America stems from two specific causes:  

1.  Several industries which are labor intensive feel pressure to keep labor costs low to be competitive (which is also what drives outsourcing)

2. The government has essentially turned its back on its own existing laws concerning employment of undocumented workers.  

Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, thinks we need a constitutional convention to overhaul our antiquated Constitution.  He would change the makeup and number of Congress, put restrictions on the President and the Judiciary, and "[w]rite a new constitutional article specifically for the politics of the American system."

I don't necessarily differ with Sabato on the need for a few changes in the Constitution.  But the last thing we need in these times of political polarization is a Constitutional Convention.

This is old news.

Way prior to 9/11 there was an intell project called "Able Danger."  Their job was to try to find out whatever they could about terrorists.  Simple assignment, yes?  

One of the members of this team, Dr. Eileen Preisser, was the analyst who told her bosses that

Mohammed Atta and three of the other 9/11 hijackers had been identified from their data-mining as potential al-Qaeda operatives within the US over a year prior to the attacks.

She has been and still is a stringent advocate of internet data mining.  She compares her work to the "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" problem.  The most recent time she gave any public comments, she said there was no need to get into "private" data -- there's enough in public on the internet to satisfy their needs.  

The Declaration of Independence contains a long list of the wrongs the colonists suffered at the hands of Mad King George (Oooohhh, those colonists make me so MAD!!!).  After reading C&J I had to wonder how they would fit the current emperor.  So here you are, directly from the pen of Thom. Jefferson: