I'm pretty exhausted and annoyed with politics right now. I am scared of what Congress will do next. Even though the Dems control the House, Senate and in a little bit of time, the White House, I still get worried about what they might do with all of that power. 

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has to be one of the biggest idiots in the history of politics. Not only should he resign as Governor, but if it were possible, I wish we could kick him out of the Democratic Party for not just being corrupt, but a moron.

I am so tired of corruption. We know where corruption is the worst, can't more be done to stop it???

This message is for my friends and family especially, but also for anyone who has the chance to vote for Dino Rossi. DO NOT DO IT. As my friend, family member, neighbor, or blog reader, do not vote for this man. 

I've pretty much known it for over an hour, but Joe Biden will be Obama's choice as a running mate. I'm happy!

So I owe ya'll a list of Obama potential VP choices. I'm not going to be as thorough as I was with the McCain list because I just don't have the time anymore and frankly, I am more familiar with the Republican choices. I need to make the list in the next few days because Obama could very well announce his choice in the next 1-2 weeks.

I've been in Seattle for almost 6 days now. I was going to start work yesterday but will start this coming Monday instead. It's nice to get a break here, to try to get settled and acclimated. I have all of my belongings spread out here (my parents house), my car, another house my parents own, and it's made getting settled a bit difficult. I only live here in a sortof kind of way. My things wouldn't fit in my bedroom here, and I can't stay here when we have guests since I am in the guestroom.

The plan is to stay here until I know more about my job situation. Right now it's just a temporary job until November and if that ends up being the case, I need to have other employment lined up before I move into my own apartment, condo, etc. Staying here with no rent/utilities allows me to save up some money that I spent moving out here and pay down some bills.

Stay tuned for some potential news over the next few days, as well as my Obama VP list.

So we all know that John Edwards admitted to the affair and claimed the baby isn't his and that the affair ended in 2006. Unfortunately, we don't know if that is true. I would like to believe that he is now telling the truth, but his word just doesn't mean much. It takes time to build up trust that has been lost, and it takes a lot longer when it's a politician who has told a huge lie to the public and himself.

This is all very sad. Many of my good friends were huge John Edwards supporters. What he has done has not only caused harm to himself and his family, but to his loyal staffers and supporters. We donated money, time, energy, and heart into his campaign. I still believe that he would've been a fine President, but winning after this bombshell would've been difficult, though McCain has done just as bad. I am trying to separate the man and his message from his mistakes, but it's difficult. It was a continuous mistake and a grave one that has no excuse.

I believe in redemption. It's why I was able to support him with his past centrist stances and voting record while in the Senate. I am not perfect and I have made terrible mistakes, and I must afford other people the same and the time to make up for those mistakes.

I am glad he is under intense fire and scrutiny. He needs to feel the consequences of what he's done. Unfortunately it hurts his family and especially his wife, whose time on earth is now uncertain, but most likely shorter than it should be. By dealing with this, her time is being taken away from time that should be spent with her children, especially her two young kids, Jack and Emma Claire.

Now I wait, to see what else will come of this story, and I thank God, for the first time in my life, that John Edwards is not the Democratic Nominee for President.

My name is Jessica. For the last several months, I have tracked over 130 events, all of which included Republican Presidential Candidates (oh and I tracked for 2 days at CPAC, which was a blast!). I tracked town halls (including invite only, private, closed, corporate, etc), house parties, rallies, parties, speeches, "events", press/media avails, tours, and every other type of campaign event. I was able to gain access to events no other tracker could get into. I was told and known by many people and organizations as the "best tracker in the country." What can I say, I have a gift.

I tracked for an organization that provided me with the top notch equipment that made my job easier. I had a Macbook and Final Cut Express for editing, a sweet Canon HD Camcorder, a nice microphone that captured great sound, a fancy Manfrotto tripod, the cords and adapters to plug into a mult box, a digital voice recorder, and more.

So, Washington State Democratic Party, if you want to track and ensure that the crook Dino Rossi doesn't win, and ensure a Darcy Burner victory so that douchebag Reichart loses his seat, I suggest you not only keep tracking their events, but you invest in equipment that will capture great images and, more importantly, GREAT sound.

Call me. I'll help you. I'll be in Seattle by August 11th, see you then.

Sincerely Yours,

Jessica

Having lived in Idaho for 7 years, I thought I had become used to living in one of the reddest states out there. I still miss the hunger of Democrats in Utah and Idaho and it is something I wish all Democrats had and it was awesome to see the Howard Dean 50 state strategy working from the front lines. But since I left Idaho and lived in Vegas (swing state), New Hampshire (swing state, but getting bluer by the day) and now Maryland (BLUE state), I'm not quite sure I could ever return to a Utah or Idaho again. A red state that votes for a Democratic governor, or Senator or Congressman or woman, sure, but a red state that is a Utah or Idaho, no, I don't think so (though Utah does have a Democratic Congressman).

I suppose this makes me part of the problem, but I'm just being honest. There is something wrong with a system and state when good and decent people who would be wonderful servents to the people can't win because the letter behind their name is a (D) and not an (R). Indeed, I would say the same thing goes for ultra blue states where corrupt Democrats can win again and again, but a good Republican doesn't stand a chance.

This all makes me think about JRE and how he should be our nominee, not Hillary or Barack. I can't help but feel we maybe let this election go because we are going to nominate someone who can't beat John McCain and the GOP. I thought Barack was pretty electable and then the media shit all over themselves with this blown out of proportion Reverend Wright story. Geez. Give me a break. We've got people dying from hunger, dying in an immoral war, and the media puts some of Wright's words on repeat to scare all the white folks. When did poverty, global warming, a recession, and war become non-stories???

And I know this may shock some of you, but not everyone has the white experience growing up and not everyone feels that this country is without blame or fault for everything ever done in its name or by its people. Some people are angry about their experiences growing up and RIGHTFULLY so. This is a country with some freedoms still left, including some freedom of speech, so if you don't like what Reverend Wright is saying, don't attend his Church. It's as simple as that.

I thought that Hillary possessed the strength and will to defeat McCain and the GOP, but now I'm wondering if her negatives will always be high and maybe people just won't be able to pull the lever for a woman who is as divisive as politicians come.

Will our nominee have what it takes to win in November? We can't afford another Republican administration, especially a McCain one which offers very few differences with the Bush Administration who has driven us into wars, further and further into a healthcare crisis, more people into poverty, and farther away from truly combatting global warming, as well as another recession, not to mention the largest terrorist attack on American soil.

No thanks, John McCain, we don't want the aforementioned (maybe an exception with global warming, since McCain thinks global warming is real) and war with Iran, 100 years in Iraq, a President who has admitted he doesn't know much about the economy. No, we don't want a third Bush term.

So I lost my cord that connects my digital camera to my computer and have an adapter that makes it so my memory stick goes right into my computer, but I lost that too. So, I had to buy another memory card to get the memory card adapter. Behold, part 1 of many with pictures from my grand adventures in the east...

JFK Museum in Boston, Mass.

and that is why I love him.

"We know these people. We know their game plan. They're going to attack us personally," Edwards said. "They attacked Elizabeth personally, because she stood up to that she-devil Ann Coulter. … I should not have name-called. But the truth is -- forget the names -- people like Ann Coulter, they engage in hateful language."

More here.

So the state director for the campaign quit. Everyone is trying to figure out exactly what she has done for the last 7 weeks and I can't be of much help because I didn't see her do much. Because of this, I have been working even more and rarely have a free moment to blog.

Obama was here last friday and was nice, but when I asked him to sign a bumper sticker, "Support the troops, end the war" he said no. He said he made a special exemption for the woman who asked him to sign her pledge card and that he usually doesn't sign things. Too bad for Obama that I saw him sign multiple things before me, including the pledge card, and one of his staffers was standing right behind him with a marker. So I guess he didn't want to sign the bumper sticker because of the message. At least he was nice about it, even though he blatantly lied to my face.

Afterwards I wanted to buy an Obama shirt as a souvenir and they wouldn't let me buy one unless I gave them all of my information. Information only required if you contribute more than $200, according to federal law. I politely pointed this out to them, but they said no information no shirt. Get prepared if he gets the nomination. If you want to buy a bumper sticker or button, you will have to give him all of your information or they won't sell you the item(s), unless they change that campaign policy.

Afterwards we went over to the Edwards event at a union hall. I think Edwards has some of the nicest staffers out there and his events are very good. To me he is a better speaker. You feel this genuineness when he speaks that is missing from the others. You feel the passion in his voice. He doesn't mince his words and he brings much more honesty to the table. This isn't anything against Hillary or Obama. Edwards is just in a position where he has to be more honest, more passionate, and more genuine because he is polling 3rd.

One of my friends is an Obama supporter and told me to be prepared to be underwhelmed when I heard Obama speak and she was right. He was good, just not so amazing I had tears streaming down my face. Of course I am the same person who didn't see what was so fan-freaking-tastic about his 2004 DNC speech. Good, not amazing, IMHO.

I'm telling 'ya, the hype ruins it for me.

I better be going. We are about to transform the office into a war room.

P.S. Anyone have any tips for my cold? Don't want to take any antibiotics because they are in short supply for me (no insurance) and I keep getting a runny nose, sneezing, stuffed up, and sometimes swollen glands.

"There once was a man named Vitter/Who vowed that he wasn’t a quitter/But with stories of women/And all of his sinnin’/He knows his career’s in the -- oh, never mind."

-- Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)

Found the ward that I am in, a single adult ward. Wow, it is a huge ward. Introduced myself to a member of the bishopric-pretty sure not the bishop since he introduced himself as "Brother" so and so and not "Bishop" so and so.

He was really nice but his niceness disappeared a little when he asked me what my job was in Las Vegas. I KISS (keep it simple stupid) with people, especially at Church, because I really have no desire to engage in debates with people at Church, but he kept pressing for information.

He remarked, "so you want everyone out of Iraq." Uh, yes, don't we all? Even those supportive of the war would prefer that our troops are home instead of in a country engaged in a civil war! Even my so non-political mom said it was a pretty dumbass remark.

Saturday I attended an event for Nevada Veterans who are Democrats. What an awesome group! It was said that while Republicans controlled the White House, House and Senate, $116 billion was cut from the Veteran's Administration, but since Democrats have taken control of the House and Senate, Democrats have restored $81 billion of that! That's my party, the party that supports the troops by funding them and not just through putting some yellow ribbon on their car.

I haven't really gotten into the gambling here. First of all, I only know how to play blackjack and not even well enough to gamble money on it. Second of all, I am broke. I do play the penny and nickel slots, but that is basically throwing money away so I keep it cheap. But last night I did win $6.41 on the penny slots!

It's still hot as hell here and you really have to keep drinking water throughout the day or you are in big trouble. I have taken some pictures which I will post later...

Copied and pasted from here:

The Obama Illusion
Presidential ambitions from the start

• lent his support to the aptly named Hamilton Project, formed by corporate-neoliberal Citigroup chair Robert Rubin and “other Wall Street Democrats” to counter populist rebellion against corporatist tendencies within the Democratic Party
• lent his politically influential and financially rewarding assistance to neoconservative pro-war Senator Joe Lieberman
• supported other “mainstream Democrats” fighting antiwar progressives in primary races
• criticized efforts to enact filibuster proceedings against reactionary Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
• voted for a business-friendly “tort reform” bill that rolls back working peoples’ ability to obtain reasonable redress and compensation from misbehaving corporations
• oppose the introduction of single-payer national health insurance on the grounds that such a widely supported social-democratic change would lead to employment difficulties for workers in the private insurance industry
• expressed reservations about a universal health insurance plan recently enacted in Massachusetts, stating his preference for “voluntary” solutions over “government mandates.”
• voted to re-authorize the repressive PATRIOT Act
• voted for the appointment of the war criminal Condaleeza Rice to (of all things) Secretary of State
• opposed Senator Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) move to censure the Bush administration after the president was found to have illegally wiretapped U.S. citizens
• distanced himself from fellow Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin’s forthright criticism of U.S. torture practices at Guantanamo
• refuses to foreswear the use of first-strike nuclear weapons against Iran
• makes a big point of respectfully listening to key parts of the right wing agenda even though that agenda is well outside majority sentiment
• joins victim-blaming Republicans in pointing to poor blacks’ “cultural” issues as the cause of concentrated black poverty
• he claims that blacks have joined the American “socioeconomic mainstream” even as median black household net worth falls to less than eight cents on the median white household dollar
• “If the Democrats don’t show a willingness to work with the president, I think they could be punished in ‘08”

Scarborough: I agree with Democrats, 'surge has failed'

"Sectarian violence leads to a religious bloodbath," reported Joe Scarborough on MSNBC Thursday, saying that the most recent attack on the Shi'ite Golden Mosque has been met by revenge attacks on three Sunni mosques, and that Democratic leaders in Congress "are now planning new legislative attempts to limit the US mission in Iraq and finally bring our troops home."

"I can tell you the moment that I realized this Iraq thing was going south ... when the Golden Mosque got blown up the first time," said Scarborough to guest Pat Buchanan. "What in the world can the United States government do to stop this? ... I don't think there's much we can do, Joe," answered Buchanan. "The numbers show the surge is not stopping the insurgency. ... I think some Republicans are going to be joining those Democrats in calling for deadlines."

- snip -

Scarborough then asked columnist Mike Barnicle about General Petraeus's claim that he sees "astonishing signs of normalcy" in Iraq, such as soccer stadiums and amusement parks. Barnicle replied that there are always isolated signs of vitality during wars, but "if you talk to returning majors, captains, colonels, returning from Iraq after second and third tours, they will tell you, speaking to the surge, that it will not work. And the rubber is going to hit the road in late summer. ... I think the war has failed, not just the surge."

Scarborough's final comment, addressed to White House correspondent Ryan Lizza, was, "At what point do Democrats in Congress and some moderate Republicans say 'Enough is enough, Mr. President, we're not following you off this cliff any more.'?"

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Friday June 15, 2007

I find it sad that people are willing to overlook inexcusable actions because the person is a Democrat. Come on, party loyalty should fall by the wayside when someone targets several religions and organizations, yet protects a few, including two they are affiliated with (Boy Scouts and the Mormon Church).

ALL religions and ALL organizations should be treated equally. Our elected officials shouldn't allow a law firm to help draft legislation which provides their client(s) with a carve out. All should be subject to the same laws with no special treatment. The safety and protection of children should come first and foremost ALWAYS.

Shame on you Rep. Ruchti and Senator Hill. Shame on you for ignoring the plight of survivors. And shame on the Democrats who can conveniently overlook this fact because they value party loyalty over children. Sick, just sick.

I really really really love John Edwards. I wasn't always a big supporter of his candidacy, but as I started thinking more and more about it, I realized he would be my top choice for the Dem nomination. Why, you ask?

I believe he is the most electable Democrat in the field so far. I think running as Kerry's VP was both good and bad. Bad in that many people didn't like Kerry (I loved him). But good in that he has a lot more name recognition and has been tried and tested on the campaign trail.

We know that Republicans will go after his career as a "trial lawyer." I happen to think the world has a place for trial lawyers and I have had nothing but good experiences with them. Yes, some of them are certainly "ambulance chasers", but many have good intentions and are there to help the little guy. The other negative with Edwards is his lack of experience. Having been a lawyer and then a Senator, he has no executive experience and correct me if I am wrong, but he has no experience with foreign policy, except what he did as a Senator.

I don't think foreign policy experience is a necessary litmus test. Not when we don't know who would run as his VP (maybe Clark or even Richardson-either of these would make up for his lack of experience in the aforementioned areas). So, his two biggest weaknesses are things that he can easily overcome.

The thing about Edwards is how attractive he is to Republicans and Independents. I have 3 really close friends of mine who are strong Republicans. Upon talking to them about the '08 race, they have all said the only Democrat they would vote for is Edwards. Now I know it is early and it is anecdotal at best, but I think they are at least somewhat representative of a larger group.

Edwards is charismatic, good looking, and has a great accent. Democrats from New York, Mass., and other northeast states, I don't believe, are electable at this point in time. We need Democrats to run from other areas of the US. This is also a good thing for Obama because he is from the midwest and doesn't appear to be so elitist (don't get me started on how I think the term "elitist" is incorrectly used by Repubs).

Edwards also has a populist platform on which he is running. I think most people would agree that poverty is an issue that must be addressed. Maybe I am not paying attention, but can someone tell me what Obama and Hillary's platforms are? Besides the fact that they are Democrats?

I love how Edwards isn't afraid to say what might not be so popular. Obama and Hillary provided NO leadership on the recent vote to continue funding the war. Obama missed the vote of no-confidence for Gonzales. The vote in and of itself isn't a huge deal, but I think it is symbolic and somewhat important.

I remember reading how Hillary and Obama spent six figures on polling. This early in the game, you aren't polling for numbers, you are polling for messages. Edwards spent nothing. Does that mean that Obama and Hillary are tailoring their message based on polling and Edwards is, gasp, saying what he actually believes!? Heaven forbid we should vote for a candidate who actually doesn't say what his pollsters tell him to say but says what he/she actually believes in.

Edwards is the only candidate that can beat any of the Repubs running. He is our best shot at the White House and he has my full support.