Wednesday, February 27, 2008
KKK endorsement?
Michael Crowley points out that the KKK wants to make it clear, they are not endorsing Barack Obama. No, this isn't an Onion headline.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Obama's Final Week Gains
A big story this campaign season has been Obama's ability to overcome huge polling deficits in a small amount of time to pull out victory. Currently, he is down about 8 pts in Ohio and in a statistical dead heat in Texas. Look below to see how well Obama has been able to close the gap or consolidate his lead in the final week leading up to the primary. (Caucuses were omitted and all polling numbers came from Pollster.com).
Final Vote....................1 Wk Out (gains)
MD 60%..................................55% (+5)
IL 65%....................................53% (+12)
GA 67%..................................48% (+19)
AL 56%..................................40% (+16)
WI 58%..................................48% (+10)
DC 75%...................................63% (+12)
VA 64%..................................54% (+10)
LA 57%..................................No data
UT 57%..................................52% (+5)
MO 49%................................42% (+7)
CT 51%..................................42% (+9)
DE 53%..................................42% (+11)
SC 55%...................................40% (+15)
These numbers show on average that Obama gains 11% in the week leading up to the primary.
Yes, I know this isn't scientific and I'm failing to take other variables into consideration such as debates, media coverage, media gaffes, Edward's involvement, money spent, campaign time in the state, inaccuracies in the polling data, etc...but one gets the point. Obama making up serious ground in the final week has been a consistent trend. The more people learn about him and hear him, the stronger his support gets.
Look for a Texas victory next Tuesday and a very, very close race in Ohio.
Final Vote....................1 Wk Out (gains)
MD 60%..................................55% (+5)
IL 65%....................................53% (+12)
GA 67%..................................48% (+19)
AL 56%..................................40% (+16)
WI 58%..................................48% (+10)
DC 75%...................................63% (+12)
VA 64%..................................54% (+10)
LA 57%..................................No data
UT 57%..................................52% (+5)
MO 49%................................42% (+7)
CT 51%..................................42% (+9)
DE 53%..................................42% (+11)
SC 55%...................................40% (+15)
These numbers show on average that Obama gains 11% in the week leading up to the primary.
Yes, I know this isn't scientific and I'm failing to take other variables into consideration such as debates, media coverage, media gaffes, Edward's involvement, money spent, campaign time in the state, inaccuracies in the polling data, etc...but one gets the point. Obama making up serious ground in the final week has been a consistent trend. The more people learn about him and hear him, the stronger his support gets.
Look for a Texas victory next Tuesday and a very, very close race in Ohio.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Obama Rally in Akron
Yesterday I was able to attend an Obama rally at the Knight Center in Akron. We were told the doors would open at 4pm and the speech would begin at 5:30. The group of us arrived at 3:30 hoping to be at the front-end of the line. Wrong.
The Knight Center occupies an entire block in downtown Akron. At 3:30 mind you, the line streched from the entrance around the entire outside of the building back to the entrance. Almost a complete circle - and many, many more people arrived after us.
It took us around 3 hours before we were able to get into the building, but atleast we got in.
I looked online and the capacity for the building is supposedly 3,500. I talked with an Obama volunteer and he said there was going to be atleast 6,000 admitted. Let me tell you, it was packed full. We had to stand for the whole speech, but it was worth it.
Since I've been following the campaigns closely, I didn't really hear anything new, but the event gave me the chills. You could just feel the energy and willingness of the crowd for this movement. It really seems like he has a rock star following.
I'm glad I went, but I'm getting too old to stand in the Ohio cold for these types of things.
The Knight Center occupies an entire block in downtown Akron. At 3:30 mind you, the line streched from the entrance around the entire outside of the building back to the entrance. Almost a complete circle - and many, many more people arrived after us.
It took us around 3 hours before we were able to get into the building, but atleast we got in.
I looked online and the capacity for the building is supposedly 3,500. I talked with an Obama volunteer and he said there was going to be atleast 6,000 admitted. Let me tell you, it was packed full. We had to stand for the whole speech, but it was worth it.
Since I've been following the campaigns closely, I didn't really hear anything new, but the event gave me the chills. You could just feel the energy and willingness of the crowd for this movement. It really seems like he has a rock star following.
I'm glad I went, but I'm getting too old to stand in the Ohio cold for these types of things.
Woes continued...
I guess Hillary's unpaid bills aren't limited to just the early campaign states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
A New York fine-foods caterer has filed suit against Hillary Clinton's campaign for failing to pay their $2,500 catering bill. The store owner is worried that she may be dropping out of the race soon and he won't be compensated.
Apparently, the campaign told the owner he would be paid via check or credit card within two weeks of the Dec. 15th event. Whoops.
A New York fine-foods caterer has filed suit against Hillary Clinton's campaign for failing to pay their $2,500 catering bill. The store owner is worried that she may be dropping out of the race soon and he won't be compensated.
Apparently, the campaign told the owner he would be paid via check or credit card within two weeks of the Dec. 15th event. Whoops.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Hillary's Financial Woes
Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has an excellent post on the current financial situations of the various campaigns, but Hillary’s is definitely worth checking out.
"I was somewhat puzzled by Clinton's statement, though. On one hand, her campaign clearly took in considerably less than it paid out. About nine million dollars less. And that can hardly be good news. Moreover, she has a mass of debt: $7,576,700.48 worth, to be precise (not including the loan she made to herself.) Moreover, while some of it is large sums (over $2 Million owed to Mark Penn, for instance), there are a lot of pretty small unpaid bills to places throughout Iowa and New Hampshire. (Honestly, why not pay the $500.12 they owe to Premier Pizza in Algonquin, Iowa? Or the $615.25 they owe Depot Deli of Shenandoah, Iowa? Your average pizzeria or deli is not made of money, after all."
Isn’t it strange that Hillary presents herself as the candidate for the middle class worker (Heck, her new slogan is that she is with the workers on the night shift) but she still owes small businesses from expenditures well over a month ago?! Nothing like saying you are for the middle class worker when you rack up a hefty bill and fail to pay it in a timely manner. I don’t think those deli and pizza shop owners are wealthy enough to give themselves a $5 Million dollar loan to cover their costs in the meantime.
She campaigns that the Bush economy is a trap door waiting to make businesses and middle class workers fall into bankruptcy. Well, apparently the Clinton campaign has the same effect because I doubt these businesses can write off those large bills at a whim.
This makes their earlier faux pas of failing to pay a waitress a tip look like nothing. Over $1,000 owed from 2007? Wow, and some people want this woman to return to the White House.
However, I shouldn’t be too upset at this revelation because it only means her campaign is having serious money problems. She spent more than she raised in January when she had relative success with New Hampshire, but her stock since then has declined rapidly. I doubt she is having an easy time raising money in February with Obama’s momentum. Look for her to call it quits soon after Ohio if she doesn’t win in a convincing fashion.
"I was somewhat puzzled by Clinton's statement, though. On one hand, her campaign clearly took in considerably less than it paid out. About nine million dollars less. And that can hardly be good news. Moreover, she has a mass of debt: $7,576,700.48 worth, to be precise (not including the loan she made to herself.) Moreover, while some of it is large sums (over $2 Million owed to Mark Penn, for instance), there are a lot of pretty small unpaid bills to places throughout Iowa and New Hampshire. (Honestly, why not pay the $500.12 they owe to Premier Pizza in Algonquin, Iowa? Or the $615.25 they owe Depot Deli of Shenandoah, Iowa? Your average pizzeria or deli is not made of money, after all."
Isn’t it strange that Hillary presents herself as the candidate for the middle class worker (Heck, her new slogan is that she is with the workers on the night shift) but she still owes small businesses from expenditures well over a month ago?! Nothing like saying you are for the middle class worker when you rack up a hefty bill and fail to pay it in a timely manner. I don’t think those deli and pizza shop owners are wealthy enough to give themselves a $5 Million dollar loan to cover their costs in the meantime.
She campaigns that the Bush economy is a trap door waiting to make businesses and middle class workers fall into bankruptcy. Well, apparently the Clinton campaign has the same effect because I doubt these businesses can write off those large bills at a whim.
This makes their earlier faux pas of failing to pay a waitress a tip look like nothing. Over $1,000 owed from 2007? Wow, and some people want this woman to return to the White House.
However, I shouldn’t be too upset at this revelation because it only means her campaign is having serious money problems. She spent more than she raised in January when she had relative success with New Hampshire, but her stock since then has declined rapidly. I doubt she is having an easy time raising money in February with Obama’s momentum. Look for her to call it quits soon after Ohio if she doesn’t win in a convincing fashion.
11 Straight
Barack Obama has won 11 straight victories including the most recent Democrats Abroad Global Primary. The results were tallied and 65% were in favor of Obama and 32% for Clinton. 22 delegates will be sent to the convention and out of the 22, 14 of the delegates are pledged and the remaining 8 are superdelegates.
Momentum is definitely on Obama’s side.
Momentum is definitely on Obama’s side.
30 Day Sex Challenge
The news is a couple of days old, but a pastor from a Church in Florida has challenged the members of his church to have sex for 30 consecutive days.
In an effort to combat increasing divorce rates, Pastor Paul Wirth has told married church members to have sex 30 days straight to form the habit and increase their marriage bond.
If this is an effort by the church to embrace the topic and discussion of sex within its congregation I think it is comendable, but paint me skeptical. It just seems like another flash in the pan type PR event to show the church is "hip" and "in touch."
Perhaps before pastors create these types of challenges they should think about the biological obstacles their challenge faces. For one, the menstrual cycle for a woman is every 28 days. Is the pastor condoning sex during menstration? I hope not since 1) it registers on the gross factor and 2) The Bible strictly prohibits sex during the period.
Secondly, isn't marriage about much more than sex? Sure, sex is great and can help form a bond, but in the big picture, sex isn't what makes people get married and it isn't what keeps people married together. Marriage is a far deeper bond than that created by sex. I think the church is doing a disservice to the institution of marriage by passing it off as only the cheap physical bond between two people.
Unfortunately, the Church is the loudest voice saying that homosexuals pose the biggest threat to marriage and homosexual marriage will cheapen the institution. Yet, this news is circulating around the country. It is no wonder the Church in America is moving closer and closer to irrelavancy. What a shame.
In an effort to combat increasing divorce rates, Pastor Paul Wirth has told married church members to have sex 30 days straight to form the habit and increase their marriage bond.
If this is an effort by the church to embrace the topic and discussion of sex within its congregation I think it is comendable, but paint me skeptical. It just seems like another flash in the pan type PR event to show the church is "hip" and "in touch."
Perhaps before pastors create these types of challenges they should think about the biological obstacles their challenge faces. For one, the menstrual cycle for a woman is every 28 days. Is the pastor condoning sex during menstration? I hope not since 1) it registers on the gross factor and 2) The Bible strictly prohibits sex during the period.
Secondly, isn't marriage about much more than sex? Sure, sex is great and can help form a bond, but in the big picture, sex isn't what makes people get married and it isn't what keeps people married together. Marriage is a far deeper bond than that created by sex. I think the church is doing a disservice to the institution of marriage by passing it off as only the cheap physical bond between two people.
Unfortunately, the Church is the loudest voice saying that homosexuals pose the biggest threat to marriage and homosexual marriage will cheapen the institution. Yet, this news is circulating around the country. It is no wonder the Church in America is moving closer and closer to irrelavancy. What a shame.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Weight Loss Diet
For those of you who know me, I'm fortunate enough not to have a problem with my weight, but for those of you who do have that problem, I'm proposing a new diet. It's called the "Brush your teeth early diet."
Everyone brushes their teeth before they go to bed - atleast I hope so. If you are prone to eating a late snack (the most harmful in terms of weight gain) you should simply brush your teeth earlier than normal. This is because the prospect of eating with either the toothpaste taste in your mouth or having to brush your teeth again should be enough to deter one from giving in to the temptation of the snack. In summary, the burden posed by having to brush again does not outweigh the benefit of eating another snack. If you say, "the burden isn't too high for me." Well, that's fine, but atleast it will make you think about what you are about to snack on if in fact you are watching you weight.
Hey, it has to atleast be effective as Kirstie Alley's weight loss program.
Everyone brushes their teeth before they go to bed - atleast I hope so. If you are prone to eating a late snack (the most harmful in terms of weight gain) you should simply brush your teeth earlier than normal. This is because the prospect of eating with either the toothpaste taste in your mouth or having to brush your teeth again should be enough to deter one from giving in to the temptation of the snack. In summary, the burden posed by having to brush again does not outweigh the benefit of eating another snack. If you say, "the burden isn't too high for me." Well, that's fine, but atleast it will make you think about what you are about to snack on if in fact you are watching you weight.
Hey, it has to atleast be effective as Kirstie Alley's weight loss program.
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