Probably best to open them all in tabs and browse around…. Great summary statement Really got me thinking Source documents (pdf) Breathtakingly good writing, a futuristic background Taking the other side Responding to Lanier Considering the 1971 decision Robert Baird bring in the Language poets Interesting comments from Zbigniew Brzezinski

History Train: “It really will say something about this country if Obama, with all his intellect, his verbal gifts and his strategic canniness, ends up losing to a crusty old out-of-it white guy who left his principles in the dumpster years ago and has nothing to offer this country but the chance for conservatives to [...]

Must read for any political junkie. via Dave Winer

In only four minutes! Matt Yglesias: “Conservative radio host Kevin James is on Hardball to call Barack Obama and appeaser, and Chris Matthews hits upon the nice idea of asking James to explain what it was that Chamberlain did wrong at Munich. As becomes apparent, James has no idea! He just likes to say “appeasement” [...]

A smart take on the super-delgates: Superdelegates can worry about the party, or they can preen and carry on about the importance of their role. They can’t do both. The only thing the Clinton and Obama campaigns agree on is that neither can secure the nomination with pledged delegates alone. So the uncommitted superdelegates wringing [...]

OMG awesome liberal screed against racism being promulgated by the Clinton campaign. Ten minutes of literate rage like you haven’t ever seen on TV. Finally, someone with a pulpit speaks the truth.

Huffingtonpost: Now, however, as Obama has gained steadily in the polls, the Clinton campaign has reversed field. Top Clinton aides are pleading with uncommitted super delegates to hold off making any commitments, fearful that any commitments they make would be to back Obama, not Clinton. In language that could have been lifted from the Obama [...]

A lot of people say, “I don’t know what Barack Obama stands for; he’s all vague and lofty and aspirational. What are his actual policies?” Well, he’s got this thing called a website, maybe you’ve seen one? Even better, here’s a 64-page pdf you can download and print out and read in the water closet [...]

NY Times: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton had a teary-eyed moment on the campaign trail today during a nostalgic visit to Yale, where she graduated from law school nearly 35 years ago. [...] Mrs. Clinton, looking teary, raised her left hand to her cheek and brushed something away with her finger. Wow, teary-eyed, the very day [...]

Worth it: Kennedy Endorsements of Barack Obama (42 min, and worth it) The Billary Road to Republican Victory Races Entering Complex Phase Over Delegates In Open Nomination, ‘Superdelegates’ May Hold Key to Victory Clinton’s Camp Seeks Gentler Role for Ex-President Changing The Rules TPMtv: Sunday Show Clinton Pile-On (Snark alert)

A fascinating CNN video of Bill Clinton, running nearly five minutes, uncut. The reporter asks him a question, and he just goes on and on, and on. He’s pissed, but he smiles, and talks and rebuts, and all in all gets down and does some hard-core political jiving. This video supports my long-held belief that [...]

Oh well. It’s not over yet. About the polls: IMHO “Strategic” voting doesn’t work. Vote for who you want to win. Trying to game the system always fails. Net-net: The Republicans are relieved, they might get to run against Clinton in the fall. She would lose in a Clinton vs. McCain contest. Finally, they didn’t [...]

Hillary Clinton sez: Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act,” Mrs. Clinton said [...]. “It took a president to get it done.” And a commenter at Andrew Sullivan’s responds: That’s right. It wasn’t the courage of King and local Montgomery residents standing up to legalized white supremacy [...]

Beyond his policy positions and rhetorical mad skillz, Barack Obama is setting a new standard for excellence in mass communication propaganda. Go to Barack TV and check out the “Generation Obama” video. It’s just under 15 min long, documentary style, and a fascinating example of aspirational politics. * It opens with organizing a student meeting, [...]

Nine percentage points. That’s a strength you can’t overlook. Look at the diversity in the slices: * Obama beat Clinton among women 35% to 30% * Obama beat Edwards among voters in union households 30%-24% * Obama beat Clinton and Edwards among voters of almost every income level (Obama and Clinton tied among voters who [...]

Andrew Sullivan has written a strong cover story for The Atlantic supporting Barack Obama. He describes how he came to this in a great interview. Combined, they provide pretty much everything you need to know about why I’m supporting Obama in the NH primary. Summary: Obama is a meta-candidate, attempting to re-frame not just the [...]

I am moved by this post, which relates an unfortunate incident on a train from New Haven CT to the dominant cultural narrative currently unfolding. [Grammatical ambiguity intended.] In 2002 and 2003 – seems so long ago, now, doesn’t it? – I remember thinking that the tone of America’s leadership would have a trickle-down effect [...]

The mayor of San Diego struggles with gay marriage, and does the right thing. I read the brief speech yesterday, but the power of watching him speak, tearfully, brings some hope to my cynical perspective of today’s politics.

For my money, Andrew Sullivan sums it up perfectly. What we will discover in the next few months, therefore, is simply whether the entire premise of this strategy is actually true. The president is asking us to find this out one more time. He seems to disbelieve the overwhelming evidence on the ground – that [...]

Important intellectual analysis from Jay Rosen on how the Bush administration has played the media. In Without a Doubt (subtitled “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush”) Suskind was not talking about an age old conflict between realists and idealists, the sort of story line that can be re-cycled for every administration. It [...]

Whiskey Bar: Like everybody else, I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but this election has already illuminated one critical truth: The modern GOP — or, more specifically, the Axis of ’70s Campus Republicans now running it — really is just a criminal enterprise disguised as a political party. Dirty tricks, large and small, [...]

CNN: Bonds rally on election bets: Market surges on hopes of fiscal discipline created by Democrat-controlled Congress; dollar mixed. via Talking Points Memo, who’s doing a great job covering the election tampering… From the GOP handbook of Maryland politics: (1) Recruit homeless men in Philadelphia; (2) Bus them into Maryland; (3) Arrange for the Republican [...]

Real-time tracking the election disruptions. EIRS or the Election Incident Reporting System is a sophisticated voting incident tracking system that will be an invaluable tool for Election Protection coalition partners and the public on Election Day and beyond. Voting problems reported through the Voter Hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) by coalition members or by poll watchers involved in [...]

I’ve had a really busy week at work, and now I find that since I took a blogging break the government has gone berserk. Rafe Colburn: Prisoner of conscience While some Republicans made a halfhearted show of conscience and Democrats hid in the most craven fashion imaginable, the Bush Administration managed to pass a bill [...]

Princeton University scientists produce a video and post it on YouTube, demonstrating how you can hack a Diebold voting machine in less than one minute. They also provide to detailed technical paper. There are exactly zero computer scientists who think a voting machine can be made unhackable. It’s time to vote absentee, in all elections, [...]

Billmon has an excellent quote comparison post today. Who knew that in 1776 Edward Gibbon would write a book that so clearly described the state of our military in 2006?

Every once in a while, it’s worth noting that the majority of people continue to disagree with the Bush/Cheney administration and their approach to the so-called War on Terror, even if we don’t talk about it much. Thank you, Keith Olbermann, for this searing critique. Transcript and video via the link.