I couldn’t agree more. I know Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) personally, better put I know his mother, who lives down in Palo Alto, quite well and I met Senator Wyden through her. For more on Senator Ron Wyden’s Healthy Americans Act initiative please visit: Stand Tall for America.

Notes on Round One
Bill Richardson must have a short memory. He notes in this first segment that one of the things we need to focus on is the “disasterous Bush-Cheney energy policy.” Well Bill, Obama voted for that energy policy, Clinton did not. Carville notes that when you are running for the President, you can’t run away from debating. True. Richardson is an old school Democrat apparently, that liberal out-of-touch elite that thinks it knows what is good for middle-class and working class Democrats not to mention the poorest of the poor without ever engaging them.

Notes on Round Two
Richardson’s beliefs that this is a “coronation” are nonsense. The calls to end it are coming from the Obama camp and its surrogates. So whose is afraid of letting people vote? Really one more debate won’t make the difference? The last one seems to have made a difference. Who has won battleground states? Obama has won Missouri. Clinton has won Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida. While the Michigan primary can be discounted, Florida’s situation is quite different. The Republican governor and the Republican-controlled state legislature made the decision to move up the Florida primary so why should Florida’s Democrats be disenfranchised through no fault of their own? And all three candidates were on the ballot in Florida and the citizens of Florida ran grassroots campaigns on behalf of their candidates. In fact, Obama was the only Democratic candidate to run ads in Florida making large cable national buys so they would run in all markets. And who has blocked every attempt at reaching an agreement to revote? The Obama campaign. And DNC Chairman Coward Dean fiddles while the Democratic Party’s hopes burn once again.

Notes on Round Three
So no more debates because it might show Obama’s inexperience. Don’t worry that’s pretty clear day-by-day. What’s more to learn? Well Obama might learn to improve his debating skills because they frankly are terrible. Come to think of it Bill, you could use the practice yourself because you’re frankly pretty bad as well. And for the record, homosexuality is not a choice. You are moronic to hold such a view and I haven’t forgotten that comment.

Indiana’s largest newspaper, The Indianapolis Star, today called for a debate in Indianapolis in advance of the primary on May 6th. Indiana voted Democratic three times in the last century (1932, 1936 & 1964). On Election Night, Indiana will be called within minutes of the polls closing, it is normally the first state to be called, and it will vote Republican. If Obama truly means what he says that he is interested in building the Democratic Party in so-called Red States (I don’t know why the United States always does things backwards from the rest of the world, red elsewhere is the colour of liberal parties with blue or white the colour of conservatives), then he will accept this debate and give the Democrats in Indiana a showcase event like never before. I would also like to remind the very junior Senator from Illinois, you yourself called Indiana “the tiebreaker.”

Though the Obama campaign cancelled the scheduled North Carolina debate after his disasterous performance in Philadelphia claiming that the media was “beating up on me,” Senator Clinton who trust me will accept the Indianapolis Star’s call to debate, also stepped up and challenged Senator Obama to a debate up in Oregon. The Pacific Northwest deserves the opportunity to see both candidates live. Will Obama accept? Or will he just run and hide?

She’s right. Oregon deserves nothing less. Isn’t it amazing the proposals that this woman has? The level of detail simply astounds. Engaging rural America, what a concept!

And here is a petition you can sign to be sent to Senator Obama asking him to honour his commitment to hold a debate in North Carolina.

Here is today’s edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Japanese Public Television to Air Its First Programme on Homosexuality
The conservative public Japanese broadcaster NHK will screen a programme on its Education Channel program “Haato wo Tsunago (Let’s Connect Hearts)” on homosexuality on April 28 and 29, continuing its trend since hitting the air two years ago of taking on controversial topics. The full story from the Mainichi Daily News.

Africa Is Losing Patience with Robert Mugagbe
It’s about time. I lost patience with Mugagbe a decade ago. His legacy as hero of independence is tarnished and his people starving and fleeing Zimbabwe at the rate of 1,000 per day. I recently was in Zimbabwe and it shocked me to see a wealthy country so poor and a honourable people so dishonoured. The story from New Zealand’s TVNZ and The World News Network. In a related story, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on African countries to pressure Mugagbe.

Coal Shortages in China
It was a miserable winter in China and perhaps because of it China is experiencing an acute shortfall in the amount of coal required to fuel it coal-powered plants that are opening at the rate of two a week. Angry Bear has the details.

A Run on Rice in Los Angeles
I’m flabbergasted. Costco and Walmart-owned Sam’s Clubs have placed limits on the amount of large twenty pound bags of rice that a consumer can purchase per one week period. Both Costco and Sam’s Clubs serve small family-owned restaurants. The story is in the Los Angeles Times

Indefinite Detention in France
From fistfulofeuros comes this story about Crime and Punishment in Nicholas Sarkozy’s France and his retention de securite plans.