This is more or less a stream of consciousness diary...

The hands of the doomsday clock must be moved forward with Clinton's statement that she would authorize the use of nuclear weapons against Iran. I was just floored when I heard this a few hours ago. Have we learned nothing from the Cold War? Do we want to go through all that again, given Russia's relationship with Iran? This is coming from one of the leading US presidential candidates. What will the world think? What will Iran and Israel think?

And who cares what they think -- just to be clear we're talking about thermonuclear weapons. Weapons of mass destruction. The same ones we were supposedly fighting this Iraq war for. The same ones that can destroy the world over. Who really cares about that?

What is the name Clinton after today?
The politics of fear.
A military-industrial complex.
Flag Pins, McCarthyism, and  
Corporate greed run amok.

How little have things changed, and it makes me sad.

The Houston Chronicle reports that in the great red state of Texas, a man died  after being chased down, beaten and handcuffed by Walmart employees.

The details:

Four employees in the Atascocita Wal-Mart wrestled Driver -- who was shirtless at the time -- to the ground and struggled with him on the hot pavement for 10 to 30 minutes, witnesses said. He stopped breathing and later died at a Humble hospital.

...

Harris County sheriff's Lt. John Martin said employees struggled with Driver for some time before they could get him under control in handcuffs. While in handcuffs, he continued to struggle until he stopped breathing, witnesses said.

...

"That's what got my attention, the employee kicked him in the back of the leg, knocked him off balance then they just threw him down to ground," Portz said.

More below the fold.

Al Gore has been a member of Apple's board of directors since 2003 and is an avid user of Macs and Apple products.

Current TV, which is founded by Gore and Hyatt, launched yesterday. There are details emerging of the methods and technology Current TV uses for its productions. Apparently, tape is banned and their setups are nearly all Macs, according to reports from websites such as Arstechnica.  

Here's my point:
Proprietary Apple technologies are used that are arguably inferior and more expensive to several more standard solutions (eg. Xsan versus CXFS).   Surely it's no coincidence that Current's entire studio is run on Macs and Gore sits on the board of directors of Apple. It stinks of cronyism. At the very least, it's a conflict of interest between the good of the network and Apple's fat profits.

My opinion of Gore is diminished.

Jonathan Klein has been president of CNN for several months now. He was instrumental in the cancellation of Crossfire, the ending of Tucker Carlson's contract and has been quoted to agree with Jon Stewart that it the show "hurt America".

Several months ago early in his new job, when asked if CNN could be a counter to FOX, Jonathan Klein has said liberals aren't as passionate or ardent as conservatives on the issues. However, CNN's rating continue to drop versus FOX and, possibly in desperation, Klein changed his mind. I've noticed CNN has been getting better. It's still bad, but not as bad as it used to be.

Also, a quick visit to Media Matters reveals CNN has not one mention in their "Recent Media Matters Coverage" section whereas FOX, ABC, NBC and MSNBC all are present.

We need to retake the House. We really do--more so than the Senate. All sorts of wonderful things become possible if Democrats control the House.

There are several theories about why we lost the House and I won't attempt to list them all. What I care about is getting the House back and that seems like a distant dream.  It's possible we may lose seats in 2006 like we did in 2002, even with Plamegate, the Iraq war and a subpar economy--the American people, it seems, just aren't paying attention.

My worst fear is that we may not see a Democratic house for decades.

When will Democrats retake the House and why?

People don't realize how radical the fundies are. Here's a group actively planning for a form of secession by taking over SC.

Christain Exodus

Why?

    * Abortion continues against the wishes of many States
    * Sodomite and lesbian "marriage" is now legal in Massachusetts (and coming soon to a neighborhood near you)
    * Children who pray in public schools are subject to prosecution
    * Our schools continue to teach the discredited theory of Darwinian evolution
    * The Bible is still not welcome in schools except under unconstitutional FEDERAL guidelines
    * The 10 Commandments remain banned from public display
    * Sodomy is now legal AND celebrated as "diversity" rather than condemned as perversion
    * Preaching Christianity will soon be outlawed as "hate speech"
    * Fathers are denied equal rights under law in cases of child custody

Do not underestimate the power of the fundies. Their plans are quite intricate and within the realm of possibility. They are having a "convention" in October. Read on below.

The straw poll below contains some likely presidential hopefuls for the 2008 nomination that have some chance of securing the nomination. Of course we could have someone who isn't on the list, like Dean in 2002, come out of nowhere but that isn't likely this cycle.

Who is the most electable? Who has the best backbone? Who can unify the party? Who is best on the issues?

Many of characteristics required to fullfill the questions above are almost mutually exclusive. A candidate who is the answer to ALL of the above questions must be our nominee.

Personally, I feel that person is Al Gore however I know a lot of you probably disagree.

Vote!

It's official! Hillary Clinton is now a Republican after several years of shifting to the right by supporting the Patriot Act, voting for the Iraq War, voting for No Child Left Behind...need I go on?

Now she's going after sex. If it's one thing Republicans are obsessed about, it's sex. MSNBC reports Hillary is burnishing her hawkish image:

The New York Democrat said she was struck with "absolute horror" when she read a report that the game had "pornographic content that can be unlocked by following instructions widely available on the Internet."

Last March, Clinton joined Lieberman and conservative Republican senators Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Sam Brownback of Kansas in calling for $90 million in federal funds for research on the effect of the Internet, i-Pods, and other electronic media on children.

Running over sex workers to get money and killing cops is one thing but two people having consensual sex for Hillary is just over the top.

I will not support a Republican like her in a Democratic primary.