a non-political post, wow!

The new X-Files movie is scheduled to be released July 25th! Just three days before my birthday :) i knew this would be a golden year...

more on foreign policy

I've posted mostly negative about Hillary Clinton lately, so here's a post on some of Barack Obama's foreign policy plan, you can read more on his website, barackobama.com/issues/foreignpolicy/

Renewing American Diplomacy

* The Problem: The United States is trapped by the Bush-Cheney approach to diplomacy that refuses to talk to leaders we don't like. Not talking doesn't make us look tough – it makes us look arrogant, it denies us opportunities to make progress, and it makes it harder for America to rally international support for our leadership. On challenges ranging from terrorism to disease, nuclear weapons to climate change, we cannot make progress unless we can draw on strong international support.
* Talk to our Foes and Friends: Obama is willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe. He will do the careful preparation necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table, and that he is willing to lead. And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs.
* Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Obama will make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority. He will make a sustained push – working with Israelis and Palestinians – to achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security.
* Expand our Diplomatic Presence: To make diplomacy a priority, Obama will stop shuttering consulates and start opening them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world – particularly in Africa. He will expand our foreign service, and develop the capacity of our civilian aid workers to work alongside the military.
* Fight Global Poverty: Obama will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015, and he will double our foreign assistance to $50 billion to achieve that goal. He will help the world's weakest states to build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.
* Strengthen NATO: Obama will rally NATO members to contribute troops to collective security operations, urging them to invest more in reconstruction and stabilization operations, streamlining the decision-making processes, and giving NATO commanders in the field more flexibility.
* Seek New Partnerships in Asia: Obama will forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements, such as the six-party talks on North Korea. He will maintain strong ties with allies like Japan, South Korea and Australia; work to build an infrastructure with countries in East Asia that can promote stability and prosperity; and work to ensure that China plays by international rules.

just sad

For the second time in three days, Hillary Clinton has told reporters that the "pledged" delegates awarded based on vote totals in their state are not bound to abide by election results — an idea that has been floated by her or a campaign surrogate nearly half a dozen times this month.

Is she really getting so desperate to suggest that the pledged state delegates from the primaries and caucuses should go against their state and vote for whomever they choose?? She's not talking about superdelegates here, she's talking about the delegates who each candidate won from each state based upon election results. This is supposed to be a democratically elected nomination (yes i know we're really a republic, but we can at least vote like a democracy)
Hillary: Give It Up. Find a better argument, no one should suggest that pledged delegates should give the voters the bird and choose whomever they wish.
UGH. At this point, if she were to win the party's nomination, there's no way I would vote for her.

foreign policy experience

So are Sheryl Crow and Sinbad qualified for the Presidency? They were also on the trip with Hillary Clinton to Bosnia, during which she "remember[s] landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."



Ooops, she "misspoke" (politician speak for 'lied'), in actuality:

But news video footage of her arrival at Tuzla shows Clinton, then the first lady, calmly walking from the rear ramp of a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane with her daughter Chelsea, then 16, at her side. Both Clintons held their heads up and did not appear rushed as they walked toward the group waiting on the tarmac to welcome them.

Did she not think the video footage would ever be released? H.Cli has often used this trip as evidence of her vastly superior foreign policy experience to Barack Obama's.

Update: Daily Kos posted a timeline of sorts of the several times she mentioned her sniper-fire trip to Bosnia

whaa whaa

"This is now the Obama campaign’s primary message to the American people," Communications Director Howard Wolfson said. "Not to build him up, but to tear Senator Clinton down."

Hasn't the Clinton campaign used the 'tear-down' method from the very start? With the intention of avoiding any possibility of anyone taking this as a racial statement, its just a saying, i think the clinton campaign is now the pot calling the kettle black. I think its high time that the Obama campaign gives the Clinton campaign a taste of their own medicine.

speaking of race issues, I was thoroughly impressed by the manner in which Barack Obama handled the whole Reverend Wright controversy. He didn't ignore it hoping that it would go away, as Hillary Clinton did with Geraldine Ferraro's remarks. He didn't throw his former reverend to the wolves. He did the mature thing and addressed the issue head-on, staying faithful to his former reverend, yet clearing up his opinion on the matter. Maturity. What a concept.

broken arrow

thanks for the link jackie :)

majority of dems prefer obama

yay!

From CNN.com:
"Fifty-two percent of registered Democrats questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say the senator from Illinois is their choice for president, with 45 percent supporting Clinton.
The poll also suggests Democrats are more enthusiastic about an Obama victory (45 percent) than for a victory by the senator from New York (38 percent)."

When are the dems gonna give Hillary the Huckabee-talk?