Last week, a delegate from Guam Pilar Lujan, the chair of the Democratic Party in Guam, who previously stated that she would back the winner of the caucuses in Guam (Obama) backed away from that support and opted to endorse Senator Clinton:
“After taking a close look at the candidates in this race, I was more impressed by Senator Clinton’s ability to meet the challenges of the presidency: end the war, re-invigorate the economy, and provide universal health care,” said Lujan. “When she becomes the first woman president, she will think of the people of Guam and their aspirations.”
Today, Kevin Rodriquez, a superdelegate from the Virgin Islands who is an African-American Democratic committeeman and the director of personnel for the Virgin Islands government, was supporting Clinton earlier this year, then switched to Obama on May 10th, and is now back in the New York Senator’s corner. More from ABC News. It is good to see that some superdelegates do want to win in November and only Clinton guarantees such a victory.
The Virgin Islands has five superdelegates. Two are now supporting Clinton and the three are still supporting Obama. Some more information in the delegation from the Virgin Islands from Source Watch.
“I had an uncle who was one of the, um, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps. And the story in our family is that when he came home he just went up in the attic and he didn’t leave the house for six months.”
–Barack Obama, Memorial Day speech, Las Cruces, NM.
Unless Obama’s uncle was Russian, this comment is fiction, or better put a lie. Auschwitz, which is in Poland, was liberated by Russian troops on January 27, 1945. One has to wonder how many more inventions there are in the Obama saga. I can’t even keep up with number of gaffes that this guy puts out. Obama is a gaffe-o-rama. More from the Washington Post.
Musharraf’s brother and son, who are based in the US, have been making generous donations to Obama who is a strong opponent of the Bush administration. Naveed Musharraf, the president’s brother, and Irum Bilal Musharraf, his daughter-in-law, have reportedly given donations to Obama instead of Republican Party’s John McCain.
According to US federal election commission records, Musharraf’s family has never been supportive of Republicans in terms of donations.
The family had supported John Kerry against George Bush in 2004, the News has reported. It is well known within the Pakistani community in the US that Musharraf’s family, including his son Bilal, have been quietly asking him to revise his decision to continue fighting for his position.
Sayed Pervez Kambaksh has been sentenced to death in Afganistan. His crime? Printing out a Web page in which Mohammad is described as a misogynistic prophet. Here is the full story from Germany’s Der Spiegel. There are no rights of conscience in Afghanistan. This sentence deserves world-wide condemnation.
During his six years in office, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has permitted the executions of 15 people. There must not be a 16th. It is ludicrous to execute a man for printing out a page off the Internet no matter what is printed on it. Mohammed was no prophet but he was a misogynistic pig who abused women. That’s my opinion and I have right to say that.
The RNC sure does have its ducks in a row. Oh wait, ducks get shot. I can’t use that metaphor.
I didn’t write about the reaction to Senator Clinton’s comments to the Souix Falls, South Dakota Argus Leader editorial board over RFK because I thought them a false outrage. In thinking about over it the weekend, I have decided that I was wrong, it is not false outrage, it is censorship. This is an attempt by Obama and his mob to stiffle free discussion. The mere mention of a historical fact led to a lynching party and Keith Olbermann led the way. It brings back what I warned about in January 2008 when I described Obama’s supporters as a “baiting crowd” using the work of Elias Canetti as a reference. My post was entitled Crossing the Mara-Mara. Only instead of comparing Obama supporters to wildebeasts, I think hyenas is more apt now.
Guy Saperstein is a lawyer and the former head of the Sierra Club and an Obama cultist blogging on the Huffington Post. This is his attempt at humour and in the process the only thing he succeeds in is further alienating Clinton supporters. It is as if Guy Saperstein wants to derail Obama from within.
I am a close personal friend of Mark Penn and Harold Wolfson. Recently, I was permitted to read, but not copy, a secret campaign memo co-authored by Hillary and Bill Clinton addressed to their demoralized campaign staff. The memo lays out many possible paths to victory still remaining in the Democratic nomination process for Hillary. My best recollection of this memo is as follows:
1. Assassination is still on the table, but it is only one possibility out of many. In light of the public furor in response to Hillary’s assassination comments, for the time being this possibility will be de-emphasized.
2. Astrophysicists are predicting an increase of meteor showers between now and the Democratic Convention. It is possible that a small meteor could hit Barack Obama in the temple at any time.
3. The most common place where people suffer fatal injuries is in their bath tub and shower. Obama is rumored to bathe every day.
4. It has been reported that Obama likes tofu; it is a little-known fact but many people have died choking on tofu.
5. We are engaged in secret conversations with George Bush and Dick Cheney to encourage them to move up the Iran invasion date from mid-October to the first week in August. We will jump all over this issue in support of the invasion and our brave troops. America likes invading other countries. That peacenik wimp Obama won’t stand a chance.
6. Obama uses an airplane to fly to many of his campaign appearances. With the soaring price of jet fuel, there is a chance his plane will run out of fuel in-flight. It is not a glider.
7. Obama plays basketball every morning. It is possible, even likely, that he could suffer serious damage to his knees and not be able to walk between now and November without a walker or wheelchair. No one wants a President in a wheelchair. We know there is the precedent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but that was before TV.
The Obama campaign only appears to be strong. Obama actually is quite vulnerable, as this memo has made clear. This is no time to feel bad, be nice or stop attacking [pandering to voters is still OK]. We are in this to WIN so stop grousing about the crappy campaign you all think we have run, think like a pit bull, not a poodle, buck up your spirits and your rhetoric and continue to ATTACK!
Guy, I’ll be thinking of you when I vote for John McCain.
Here is the Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.
The Rome Summit on the Global Food Crisis
World leaders are to meet next week for urgent talks aimed at preventing tens of millions of the world’s poor dying of hunger as a result of soaring food prices. The summit in Rome is expected to pledge immediate aid to poor countries threatened by malnutrition as well as charting longer-term strategies for improving food production. The UK Guardian previews the summit with a week-long special report.
Canadian Foreign Minister Bernier Resigns
Canada’s embattled foreign minister resigned after leaving classified documents at a private residence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Monday, calling it “a serious error.” PM Harper said that he accepted the resignation of Maxime Bernier, who came under fire in recent weeks amid reports that a former girlfriend had previous relationships with men linked to the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang. More on this story from the Associated Press and from Toronto’s Global & Mail. Some analysis on the implications for PM Harper and his minority government from Canada’s National Post. Mr. Bernier will retain his seat in Canada’s Parliament. Bloomberg News floats the idea that PM Harper may re-shuffle his Cabinet.
Nepal Set to Abolish Its Monarchy
The Nepali government warned on Tuesday that it could use force to throw unpopular King Gyanendra out of the royal palace if he refuses to leave voluntarily after the 239-year-old monarchy is abolished. A special assembly elected in April is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Wednesday and formally declare an end to the monarchy, a key part of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist former rebels that ended a decade-long civil war. The Telegraph has the full story.
Mugabe Launches Runoff Election Campaign in Zimbabwe
The President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe launched his re-election campaign by bussing in over a thousand ZANU-PF youth who attended the launch adorned in new party uniforms that have his face on them. As always he accused the MDC and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai of being colonial puppets who would reverse the gains of the liberation struggle if they were in charge of the country. You mean like famine and living in poverty? All Africa provides the details while the New York Times profiles Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition candidate.
IAEA Critical of Iran
The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran’s alleged research into designing nuclear warheads remains a matter of serious concern. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quarterly report has just been submitted to the United Nations and says Iran still needs to provide substantive explanations about its research into weapons, and that its inspectors had not been given access to nuclear-related sites it had asked to see in April. The IAEA says Iran has not yet disproved allegations that its nuclear activities have a military purpose. Iran was termed as “willfully uncooperative.” The New York Times covers the IAEA report and its implications. Iran has a different take on the IAEA report according to Reuters. A senior Iranian official said Monday’s report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog showed that Tehran’s nuclear programme was peaceful. I wonder if they read the same report.
