Quote:



The founding fathers never heard of the Telephone, Radio, Movies, Television and Internet Blogs.

Are they covered under the 1st Amendment???

Your logic is faulty. I hope we can maintain this discourse without personal attacks

Quote:

Only if they look and shoot like these gun owners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpkTJlSPxn8&feature=player_embedded

Quote:

The progressive paradise of California prepares for gun confiscation:



AB 174 (Asm. Rob Bonta, D-Oakland)) - Would begin the conversation on ending the grandfathering of existing weapons which are now illegal to purchase but are still legal to possess. ?State laws on the books currently restrict the purchase and sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines, but almost all laws only apply on a going forward basis and exempted weapons remain on our streets,? Bonta said. ?With AB 174 we will closely examine this loophole and do what?s right for the children and people of California.?


http://kiem-tv.com/node/4668

Quote:

Excellent points !!!

However , the black vote was never in play. Obama can not win without the Reagan Democtracts and after last night I think is lost them


DTG

Just a few of questions for the ?Street Hustler? , sorry I mean ?Community Organizer?

Have your children attended school during the Campaign?
How many School days have they missed ?
Is the school Private or Public ?
If the School is Private how much does the school cost?
What is the percentage of minorities in the student body ?
What is the percentage of minorities in the Staff ?

Do you have a Nanny?
Is the Nanny Legal or Illegal
Do you pay her a ?Living Wage??
Can we see a copy of the Nanny?s W-2?
Do you provide Healthcare for the Nanny?



Love and Peace All

DTG

Is that the best Obama can do right after the Dem Convention.


DTG


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/ ... -poll-obama-49-mccain-48/

August 31, 2008
CNN Poll: Obama 49, McCain 48

Posted: 08:00 PM ET

From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) ? On the eve of the Republican convention, a new national poll suggests the race for the White House remains dead even.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night shows the Obama-Biden ticket leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 percent to 48 percent, a statistical dead heat.

The survey was conducted Friday through Sunday, after both the conclusion of the Democratic convention and McCain?s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A previous CNN poll, taken just one week earlier, suggested the race between Sens. McCain, R-Arizona, and Obama, D-Illinois, was tied at 47 percent each.

?The convention ? and particularly Obama's speech ? seems to be well-received. And the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP running mate, also seems to be well-received. So why is the race still a virtual tie? Probably because the two events created equal and opposite bounces ? assuming that either one created a bounce at all,? says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.


Barack Obama?s acceptance speech in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 people at INVESCO Field in Denver on Thursday night wrapped up the Democrats? convention. It was one of the most widely watched political conventions in history.

The poll suggests that the convention made people who watched more likely to vote for the Democratic ticket. Fifty-one percent of registered voters said the convention made them more likely to support Obama; only 32 percent said they were less likely to back the Democratic nominee.

?Sixty-four percent rated Obama's acceptance speech as excellent or good, giving it significantly higher marks than any other recent acceptance speech. The Democratic Party?s favorable ratings went up, and the GOP's favorable ratings went down. Historically speaking, the convention was better than some and worse than others in the public's mind ? not a home run, but a hit nonetheless,? says Holland

Less than 12 hours after Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain introduced Palin as running mate, surprising the political world.

So far, according to the poll, four in 10 Americans are not familiar with Palin. Thirty-eight percent of those questioned viewed her favorably and 21 percent unfavorably.

Men appear to have a slightly favorably opinion of Palin than women; 41 percent of men view her favorably, five points higher than women.

Americans seem evenly divided on whether McCain made a wise choice in selecting Alaska?s first term governor, who?s been in office for less than two years.

Fifty-two percent rate the selection of Palin as excellent or pretty good; 46 percent rate it as fair or poor.

Is Palin qualified to be president?

Fifty percent say she is unqualified to assume the presidency if that becomes necessary; 45 percent say she?s prepared for the White House.

In recent history, the only running mate to earn less confidence from the public was Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992.

Ultimately however, the Palin pick may have minimal effect on the race for the White House.

Almost six in 10 Americans say Palin?s selection as McCain?s running mate will have no effect on their vote. One in five say it makes them more likely to vote for McCain; one in five say it makes them less likely.

Three quarters of all voters think McCain chose a female running mate specifically because he thought adding a woman to the Republican ticket would help him win in November.

?If McCain was hoping to boost his share of the women's vote, it didn't work,? Holland said.

?Women now appear slightly more likely to vote for Obama than they did a week ago, 53 percent now, compared to 50 percent. But McCain picked up a couple of points among men. More important, McCain solidified his party's base with the Palin selection, dropping Obama's share of the Republican vote six points to just 5 percent now. The Palin selection did not help among women ? that may come later ? but it did appeal to Republican loyalists.?

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll was conducted from Friday through Sunday, with 927 registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey?s overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

? CNN?s Alan Silverleib and Paul Steinhauser

You guys will love this!!! Enjoy. DTG

Quote:

The term is Intellectual Laziness !!!!



It helps the ticket but please remember Biden can be a loose cannon.


DTG

PS- Welcome JC List

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/2008 ... hr91NO75xcmJwMhYEuz5snwcF


Statesman known for slips of his tongue Eamon Javers, Jonathan Martin
Sat Aug 23, 2:44 AM ET



Forget the idea that opposition researchers got cracking the very moment that Barack Obama announced Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate ? they?ve long been poring over his records and background, and those of all the most likely vice presidential picks.

For all that, though, the likeliest attacks on Biden are all matters of public record, and often problems of his own making.

Biden, who dropped out of the 1988 Democratic primary after he was accused of lifting sections of his stump speech about his humble origins from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock, more recently took heat in 2006, when he said, ?You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin? Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.?

This year, he managed to blow up his official announcement he was entering the race when he deemed Obama ?the first mainstream African-American [candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.?

Reporters and opposition researchers are already salivating at the verbal grenades yet to be launched.

More substantively, Biden supported the 2002 resolution that authorized the war in Iraq ? a resolution that Obama opposed and, in the primaries at least, painted as ?the most important foreign policy decision in a generation.?

Biden was on the wrong side of that thinking, by Obama?s lights. In 2002, he said that America had ?no choice but to eliminate? Saddam Hussein.

While preparing for his own run at the party?s nomination last year, he took several shots at Obama?s inexperience, warning that ?if the Democrats think we?re going to be able to nominate someone who can win without that person being able to table unimpeachable credentials on national security and foreign policy, I think we?re making a tragic mistake.?

When Obama gave a speech saying he?d send troops into Pakistan if he had actionable intelligence and the Pakistani government was unwilling to act, Biden told NPR that ?It?s a well-intentioned notion he has, but it?s a very naive way of thinking how you?re going to conduct foreign policy,? adding of his then-rival, in a remark Republicans are sure to revive: ?Having talking points on foreign policy doesn?t get you there.?

Biden also said last year of his now-running mate that ?I think he can be ready, but right now I don?t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.? He may also see clips from his 1988 presidential run, when he ran an ad in which the narrator warns:

?The White House isn't a place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power, ... the economic future of the next generation,'' the narrator of Biden's 1988 ad for the Democratic nomination said. "The president has got to know the territory.?

Biden, 65, came to Congress at the age of 30, meaning he?s spent more than half his life in the institution, which Republicans will surely charge makes him an unsuitable running mate for a candidate of change.

Another moment likely to be used against him is his Aug. 2, 2005, "Daily Show" appearance in which Jon Stewart asked him of a potential 2008 run, ?You may end up going against a Senate colleague, perhaps McCain, perhaps Frist??

Biden replied, ?John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off ? be well off no matter who ...?

Biden's long tenure in the Senate cuts against Obama?s change message, even as it insulates the first-term Illinois senator from charges that he?s too green for the White House.

Biden has accepted $5,133,072 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists since 2003. Obama does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists.

And he has one other weakness that hasn't received much attention to date. One of Biden's sons, Hunter, is a registered Washington lobbyist in a year in which Obama has been excoriating lobbyists and the culture of corruption in Washington. The younger Biden is a name partner at the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair and seems to have specialized in lobbying for just the kind of earmark spending by Congress that Obama has vowed to slash. Republican insiders say the party is likely to make an issue of Biden's family lobbying ties.

Also expect to hear more about Biden's close ties with credit card companies. His largest contributor, based on total contributions by employees, over the past five years has been MBNA, the Delaware-based bank aquired in 2005 by Bank of America that, until then, was the world's largest independent credit card issuer and a major supporter of the 2005 bankruptcy bill that Biden crossed the aisle to support.

Top five donors (including employee donations)
- MBNA Corp. (Delaware-based bank acquired in 2005 by Bank of America)
- Pachulski, Stang (law firm with major Delaware officers)
- Young, Conaway (large Delaware law firm)
- Law Office of Peter Angelos (mid-Atlantic trial law firm)
- Simmons Cooper (national trial law firm)

Top five industry group contributors
- Lawyers/law firms
- Real estate
- Retired
- Securities & investment
- Miscellaneous finance

Alexander Burns contributed to this story.

Quote: object width="425" height="344">

Quote: Are you asking her to become ?Omega Woman? ??? DTG PS - Give the new girl a break !!!

Quote:


You have insulted our religion and our holy men


We will make a video of your beading and post it on YouTube!!

You blasphemous dog

Oops

Sorry, wrong religion.

You can continue insulting Catholics at will . We are to afraid to respond to your attacks

Love,

DTG

Quote:

A decade??


Try one or two years


Let the beheadings begin !!!

DTG

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic ... itain-says-UKs-judge.html

Quote:


I am familiar with the process.

I think I saw it once in a movie called Doctor Zhivago

DTG

LoraJ:

On my way home I spoke to the young engineer on duty. She advise me that they have two days of work left and one day for clean up.


Hopefully ,it will all end by the end of the business day on Thursday. Parking is getting a bit hairy around here.

Hope it helps !!

DTG

PS ?Let?s see if day replace the two trees that they killed in front of the Lincoln Apartments.



[quote]
LoraJ wrote:
Anyone know just how long this will take?
quote]

Quote:



Manhole collapse

DTG

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080612/pl_politico/11029


Some Hill Dems won't endorse Obama

Ryan Grim

Thu Jun 12, 5:06 AM ET


The presidential race may be topic A, B and C in Washington these days, but some people are just too busy to think about it ? particularly, it seems, centrist Democrats from conservative districts, who aren?t exactly eager to align themselves with Sen. Barack Obama.

Rep. Travis Childers, elected just weeks ago in a Mississippi special election, hasn?t endorsed anyone in the presidential race yet. ?We have had our head down at work, trying to get our feet on the ground up here,? said Childers? chief of staff, Brad Morris. ?The presidential politics just has not been on our mind.?

Rep. Heath Shuler, a freshman Democrat from right-leaning North Carolina, has also been too busy to endorse. After Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton carried his district in the North Carolina primary, Shuler said he would cast his superdelegate vote for her at the Democratic convention.

Now that Clinton is out of the race? ?We?ve gone back to his work up there in the House,? said Shuler spokesman Andrew Whalen. ?We?re not really too focused on the presidential [race].?

Centrist Democrats aren?t the only ones cautious about embracing their party?s presumptive nominee. Neither Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) nor Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has endorsed Sen. John McCain, and a lot of GOP members will spend the fall trying to put distance between themselves and President Bush.

But with the media focused for a moment on Democratic defections ? Rep. Dan Boren, a Democrat from a conservative Oklahoma district, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he won?t be endorsing Obama ? the GOP is enjoying the show.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain said that Democrats who don?t endorse Obama ?wrongly believe that by disassociating themselves from Obama that they can escape any criticism or comparison in terms of their liberal positions on issues like their shared support for government-run health care and massive tax hikes.?

The NRCC identified five such Democrats in a statement distributed Tuesday.

One of them, Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda, has since decided to endorse Obama. Another, Ohio Rep. Charlie Wilson, had done so a few days before the statement went out ? which is to say, only after Clinton announced that she was suspending her campaign.

Responding to the news of Boren?s non-endorsement, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor noted in an e-mail that ?Obama has a long history of working across the aisle to get things done and ... he?s worked with some of the most conservative members ? including Congressman Boren?s Republican colleague from Oklahoma, [Sen.] Tom Coburn.?

?Obviously this primary process was long and highly competitive, but we?re confident that the party will come together to beat John McCain,? he added.

But Boren isn?t the only congressional Democrat who won?t be endorsing Obama.

A spokesman for Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) told Politico on Thursday that Mahoney will remain neutral. So will Rep. Jim Marshall, a Democrat in a conservative Georgia district. Marshall didn?t endorse Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004, and he won?t endorse anyone this year, either. ?Jim, as a rule, doesn?t get involved in other people?s campaigns,? said spokesman Doug Moore.

Louisiana Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon has yet to endorse Obama. Until Thursday, neither had newly elected Louisiana Rep. Don Cazayoux. ?Since coming to office, it has been Rep. Cazayoux?s position to let the presidential primary process play out, which it has,? said Cazayoux spokesman Lewis Lowe. ?Now that Sen. Obama is the presumptive nominee, Rep. Cazayoux looks forward to working with him to improve the economy and increase access to quality health care for all Americans.?

Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), a longtime Obama backer, said that he harbors no ill will for Democrats who stay on the sidelines.

?People?s responsibility, first and foremost, is to get reelected,? Davis said.

?I defer to any member?s judgment on what they need to do,? he added. ?They?re all loyal Democrats who vote with Democrats on a range of issues.?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_el_pr/obama_veepstakes

Johnson resigns from team vetting Obama veep

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer




Jim Johnson, a manager of Democrat Barack Obama's vice presidential search team, resigned Wednesday amid criticism over his personal loan deals.

"Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept," Obama said in a statement. "We have a very good selection process under way, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process."

Johnson, the former chairman of mortgage lender Fannie Mae, received loans with the help of the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., which is part of a federal investigation in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis. The story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain had accused Obama of hypocrisy for speaking out against Countrywide's tactics while his vetter got favorable rates on three home mortgages totaling $1.7 million.

Johnson served on Obama's vetting team with two prominent Democratic attorneys ? former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy.

Johnson brought the most experience to the vetting team, having filled the same role for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984. He and Holder had been holding meetings this week with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to seek their input on possible running mate candidates.

The campaign declined to answer questions about whether Johnson would be replaced or the vetting process will be left to Holder and Kennedy, who have not been involved in a vice presidential search before.

On Tuesday, Obama said Johnson had a "discrete task" and was performing it well. He suggested the Countrywide connection was not a problem since Johnson was an unpaid volunteer and hadn't been assigned to work in a future administration.

"I am not vetting my V.P. search committee for their mortgages," Obama said at the time.

___

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/ ... 13072640175250.xml&coll=1



Reckless manslaughter conviction tossed out

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BY TOM HESTER

Star-Ledger Staff

The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a defendant who has a valid claim of self-defense cannot be convicted of reckless manslaughter for killing an attacker.

Ruling in the case of a Jersey City man sentenced to 15 years for a fatal stabbing, the court said the judge in the case wrongly told the jury that self-defense did not apply to the reckless manslaughter charge.

The 6-0 decision granting a new trial said state law makes clear that "a person who kills in the honest and reasonable belief that the protection of his own life requires the use of deadly force does not kill recklessly."

The case stems from an incident in Jersey City' Greenville neighborhood in 2003 when Wilberto Rodriguez, 41, fatally stabbed Anthony Hobbs, 23, of Jersey City with a small pocket knife after he was threatened and physically assaulted by Hobbs.

According to the court, Rodriguez was in the W.L. Mini-Market attempting to sell car radios to people in the store, when Hobbs, a store customer, asked about the price. Words were exchanged, and Hobbs threatened Rodriguez and said he would be waiting for him outside. Minutes later, Hobbs re-entered the store and attacked Rodriguez. Rodriguez responded by stabbing Hobbs in the heart. He died shortly after.

Rodriguez said he acted in self-defense. At Rodriguez's 2004 trial in Jersey City, Superior Court Judge Kevin G. Callahan's instructions to the jury about the self-defense claim "were, at best, confusing," the high court said yesterday.

The judge told the jurors to weigh Rodriguez's self-defense claim when deliberating whether to convict him of murder, aggravated manslaughter or manslaughter -- but not when considering the charge of reckless manslaughter.

The jury acquitted him of the more serious charges but found him guilty of the reckless manslaughter count, and he was sentenced as a repeat offender to 15 years in prison.
Yesterday's decision, written by Justice Barry T. Albin, cited an earlier case in which the Supreme Court found that the Legislature's intent "was that self-defense based on a reasonable belief in the need for deadly force would constitute justification -- a complete defense -- to the charge of reckless manslaughter."

The court sent the case back to Superior Court for a new trial on the reckless manslaughter and related weapons charges.

Assistant Deputy Public Defender Michael B. Jones, who represented Rodriguez in the appeal, said his office believes there are other cases in which defendants were convicted of reckless manslaughter because a jury was not permitted to consider a self-defense argument. Jones said the Public Defender's office will look for those cases and review them.

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa M. DeMartini argued the appeal for the prosecution.

Tom Hester may be reached at thester@starledger.com or at (609) 292-0557.

I love Blue on Blue fratricide . This sermon will go over real well with all the Reagan Democrats !!! DTG

Quote:

How quickly we forget !!! See post 379



DTG



http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9398.html

A very interesting read into the mind of Michelle Obama and her thoughts on White Liberals

DTG


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html


Politico.com

Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide

By: Jeffrey Ressner

February 23, 2008 09:51 AM EST


Michelle Obama's senior year thesis at Princeton University, obtained from the campaign by Politico, shows a document written by a young woman grappling with a society in which a black Princeton alumnus might only be allowed to remain "on the periphery." Read the full thesis here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. "I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second."

The thesis, titled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community" and written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, in 1985, has been the subject of much conjecture on the blogosphere and elsewhere in recent weeks, as it has been "temporarily withdrawn" from Princeton's library until after this year's presidential election in November. Some of the material has been written about previously, however, including a story last year in the Newark Star Ledger.

Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her "further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."

During a presidential contest in which the term "transparency" has been frequently bandied about, candidates have buried a number of potentially revealing documents and papers. In Hillary Rodham Clinton's case, there's been a clamoring for tax records, White House memos and other material the candidate's team has chosen to keep from release. The 96-page Princeton thesis, restricted from release by the school's Mudd Library, has also been the subject of recent scrutiny.

Earlier this week, commentator Jonah Goldberg remarked on National Review Online, "A reader in the know informs me that Michelle Obama's thesis ... is unavailable until Nov. 5, 2008, at the Princeton library. I wonder why."

"Why a restricted thesis?" asked blogger-pastor Louis Lapides on his site Thinking Outside the Blog. "Is the concern based on what's in the thesis? Will Michelle Obama appear to be too black for white America or not black enough for black America?"

Attempts to retrieve the document through Princeton proved unsuccessful, with school librarians having been pestered so much for access to the thesis that they have resorted to reading from a script when callers inquire about it. Media officers at the prestigious university were similarly unhelpful, claiming it is "not unusual" for a thesis to be restricted and refusing to discuss "the academic work of alumni."


The Obama campaign, however, quickly responded to a request for the thesis by Politico. The thesis offers several fascinating insights into the mind of Michelle Obama, who has been a passionate advocate of her husband's presidential aspirations and who has made several controvesial statements, including this week's remark, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." That comment has fueled debate on countless blogs, radio talk shows and cable news for days on end, causing her to explain the statement in greater detail.

The 1985 thesis provides a trove of Michelle Obama's thoughts as a young woman, with many of the paper's statements describing the student's world as seen through a race-based prism.

"In defining the concept of identification or the ability to identify with the black community," the Princeton student wrote, "I based my definition on the premise that there is a distinctive black culture very different from white culture." Other thesis statements specifically pointed to what was seen by the future Mrs. Obama as racially insensitive practices in a university system populated with mostly Caucasian educators and students: "Predominately white universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the white students comprising the bulk of their enrollments."

To illustrate the latter statement, she pointed out that Princeton (at the time) had only five black tenured professors on its faculty, and its "Afro-American studies" program "is one of the smallest and most understaffed departments in the university." In addition, she said only one major university-recognized group on campus was "designed specifically for the intellectual and social interests of blacks and other third world students." (Her findings also stressed that Princeton was "infamous for being racially the most conservative of the Ivy League universities.")

Perhaps one of the most germane subjects approached in the thesis is a section in which she conveyed views about political relations between black and white communities. She quotes the work of sociologists James Conyers and Walter Wallace, who discussed "integration of black official(s) into various aspects of politics" and notes "problems which face these black officials who must persuade the white community that they are above issues of race and that they are representing all people and not just black people," as opposed to creating "two separate social structures."

To research her thesis, the future Mrs. Obama sent an 18-question survey to a sampling of 400 black Princeton graduates, requesting the respondents define the amount of time and "comfort" level spent interacting with blacks and whites before they attended the school, as well as during and after their University years. Other questions dealt with their individual religious beliefs, living arrangements, careers, role models, economic status, and thoughts about lower class blacks. In addition, those surveyed were asked to choose whether they were more in line with a "separationist and/or pluralist" viewpoint or an "integrationist and/or assimilationist" ideology.

Just under 90 alums responded to the questionnaires (for a response rate of approximately 22 percent) and the conclusions were not what she expected. "I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility."

? 2007 Capitol News Company, LLC

http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_1-251.pdf

www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_26-501.pdf


http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_51-751.pdf


http://dyn.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_76-981.pdf

Obama goes after Blue Dog Pro- Gun votes in Pa.

What a sack of Sh#t , just looking for votes like your typical politician !!!!

Oh yeah , he is really Pro-Gun


Change my a&s

DTG



http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9398.html


Obama aims for pro-gun vote

By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 4/5/08 4:42 PM EST Text Size:

Neither hunter or fisher, big-city politician Barck Obama nevertheless makes a play for pro-gun voters in rural Pennsylvania.

Barack Obama did not hunt or fish as a child. He lives in a big city. And as an Illinois state legislator and a U.S. senator, he consistently backed gun control legislation.

But he is nevertheless making a play for pro-gun voters in rural Pennsylvania.

By highlighting his background in constitutional law and downplaying his voting record, Obama is engaging in a quiet but targeted drive to win over an important constituency that on the surface might seem hostile to his views.

The need to craft a strategy aimed at pro-gun voters underscores the potency of the issue in Pennsylvania, which claims one of the nation?s highest per capita membership rates in the National Rifle Association.

It also could provide clues as to whether Obama, as one of the Senate?s more liberal members, can position himself as an acceptable choice to a conservative-minded demographic in later primary contests and in the general election.

?Guns are a cultural lens through which they view candidates,? said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a progressive think tank. ?If you are seen as way off on that issue, then you seem way off on everything. If you are seen as OK, if the lens is clearer, then they continue to look at you and size you up on other things.?

?For Obama, who is less known and is from Chicago, a city guy and an African American, the feeling is that he is anti-gun,? Kessler continued. ?By handling the Second Amendment correctly, he starts to get a hearing among these folks.?

Obama aides would not discuss the campaign?s strategy. While the effort so far in Pennsylvania appears modest, it is noteworthy for a race that has largely avoided such direct engagement with gun owners.

The campaign has asked gun rights advocates like state Rep. Dan Surra, a Democrat from rural Elk County with an ?A+? rating from the NRA, to form a coalition of supporters who can vouch for Obama.

?It is clear out there that I am for Obama, and they have reached out to me as a sportsman and a gun owner,? Surra said Thursday. ?There has been an outreach to pro-gun legislators, pro-gun people who are sympathetic to Obama?s message.?

The campaign sent an e-mail this week to the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen?s Clubs, saying it would ?appreciate all sportsmen taking time to learn the facts: Our candidate strongly supports the right and traditions of sportsmen throughout Pennsylvania and the United States of America.?

And with an endorsement last month from Sen. Bob Casey Jr., Obama got a boost within a community that the Pennsylvania Democrat has courted assiduously. As part of an initiative to move beyond his party?s traditional bases during the 2006 Senate campaign, Casey visited stock car races, demolition derbies and gun clubs. Campaign operatives to both senators are now working closely together.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton does not appear to be making the same level of effort. She has reminded audiences in the last few months that she learned to shoot a gun during childhood vacations in Scranton and bagged a duck as an adult. But neither the state Federation of Sportsmen?s Clubs nor her pro-gun Democratic supporters have heard of any specific campaign outreach.

The pitch from Obama may prove to be a tough sell with this state, where polling shows four in 10 voters ? with higher percentages in rural areas ? own a firearm. But it is a requisite if he hopes to expand his appeal beyond the state?s metropolitan areas.

When gun owners organized a rally at the state Capitol in Harrisburg last year, nearly half of the 50 legislative sponsors were Democrats. And in the last six months, the General Assembly has thwarted three gun control measures, with Democratic assistance, including one this past week that would have made it mandatory to report lost and stolen handguns.

?It?s interesting that it took until Pennsylvania for really anybody to talk about the gun issues,? Kessler said. ?It shows you are down to battling for a small number of votes in a small number of states that are starting to look like the interior of Pennsylvania ? West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana.?

Obama has long backed gun-control measures, including a ban on semiautomatic weapons and concealed weapons, and a limit on handgun purchases to one a month. He has declined to take a stance on the legality of the handgun prohibition in Washington, D.C., which the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing, although Obama has voiced support for the right of state and local governments to regulate guns.

In the Senate, he and Clinton broke on one vote, in July 2006. Siding with gun-rights advocates, Obama voted to prohibit the confiscation of firearms during an emergency or natural disaster. Clinton was one of 16 senators to oppose the amendment.

A two-page white paper on Obama?s website doesn?t mention his voting record.

Instead, he introduces himself as a former constitutional law professor who ?believes the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he greatly respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms.?

?He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport, and use guns for the purposes of hunting and target shooting,? the paper states. ?He also believes that the right is subject to reasonable and common sense regulation.?

Melody Zullinger, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs who received the Obama campaign e-mail on his gun record, said Obama sounds like he is ?speaking out of both sides of his mouth.?

?I was at one of our county meetings last night and I mentioned this to [federation members],? Zullinger said Friday of the Obama outreach. ?Everyone basically blew it off and weren?t buying it.?

Obama?s approach is similar to one advocated by Third Way, which issued a seven-step blueprint in 2006 to close the ?gun gap? with Republicans. In a memo on its website, the group urges progressives to avoid silence on gun issues, and instead ?redefine the issue in a way that appeals to gun owning voters.?

Among the key steps, according to Third Way: ?Own the Second Amendment? and ?Take Your Message Directly to Gun Owners ? Don?t Let Your Opponent Define You.?

The National Rifle Association posted an article on its website in February warning members against buying into Obama and Clinton, who were using the ?scripted rhetorical tricks in the Third Way playbook to the letter.?

Kim Stolfer, chairman of Firearm Owners Against Crime, a political action committee that conducts a candidate questionnaire on behalf of Pennsylvania?s gun groups, said he has not heard from any of the candidates ? Obama, Clinton or Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

For now, even if Obama hasn?t won over the gun ownership groups, his outreach efforts show signs of paying some dividends.

State Rep. Tim Solobay, a pro-gun Democrat who is uncommitted but leaning toward Clinton, said he began asking questions about Obama?s record after he saw Surra, one of the highest-ranking gun advocates in the General Assembly, wearing an Obama button.

?It was very surprising to me,? Solobay said. ?He is a sportsman. Guys like him carried the mantle for years as pro-gun Democrats. There may be some legitimacy to it. This is what Danny said to me: ?He has got a much more pro-gun side than what even he anticipated or thought.? I have not read his information yet. But I take Danny's opinion very highly."

Trp3:

Having served in the Army as a N.C.O for 6 years it is still amazing to me the disdain that Liberal/Leftist like you have for the men and women of our Military.

The West Point Curriculum mass producing killer troglodytes in uniforms.

I hope you find it acceptable !!!!

http://www.dean.usma.edu/departments/default.cfm


DTG



[quote]
trp3 wrote:

hmmm......i guess these brainiacs that decided to join up and go fight in Iraq hadn't majored in......oh, I don't know......History?.......Economics?......Political Science?........

quote]

Is this Obama is Pastor ?? DTG