There are two topics that really hurt this past week here in lovely PA.  Today, front page headlines covered all the state papers with 12 Democratic leaders being charged with a plethora of illegal activities concerning campaign funds, public tax funds and fraud.  

The next topic is near and dear one for my local community.  If you think state and federal politics are bad, have you ever sat in on Borough Council or City Council meetings?  The idiocy is rampant and this situation takes the all time cake for our nationally registered Historic Boro.  

I'll admit it, late on Tuesday I was vexed, pissed, lost some sleep, and wanted to blow up CNN for their constant chatter about how a single digit victory translated into a new day.  I was shocked CNN was "shocked" given Hillary had always led in the polls, by as much as 20% in January, and Obama had predicted his loss.  I would opine CNN's shock was manufactured to keep the show going.  "Inevitability" doesn't sell papers.  If it hadn't been for Obama's wonderfully moving Tuesday night speach, I would have kicked my dog.

Yet, today it became clear - that Obama guy is down right pretty smart.  He isn't the rabid pit bull that Hillary is but, he is smarter and  won big time in Pennsylvania by opening up that big ol' can of whoop ass!  Proving once again that while Hillary is a tough nut, Obama is every bit as tough and twice as smart.  And Obama, like Atticus Finch, knows what to do with rabid dogs - kill them with well aimed financial bullets.  And as we now see, Obama hits a bull's eye while Hillary thinks she "won" in PA.

In this past Sunday's Albany Times-Union, the following this article detailed the Governor's raiding of dedicated funds to help balance last year's budget, and it's going to continue.

My name is Matt Adler and I'm a student at Washington University in St. Louis recently elected to be the sole male Barack Obama pledged delegate from Missouri's fightin' 3rd CD.  I ran to give youth voters a voice in the process, and am excited to see that the work my friends and I put in sending out letters, making phonecalls, and leafleting the caucus convinced other delegates that we deserve a seat at the table!  I'm working with other young delegates and elected officials to make the convention a launching point for a movement to get more young people elected to office.  It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capitalize on this election's incredibly energy and organize a new generation of progressive leaders.  But I need your creativity to get there!

More below the fold

Obama raised $32 million in January, $55 million in February and $40 million in March. That is a total of $127 million dollars for just 2008. That number, by any standard, is astounding and almost unbelievable. Even more amazing when you realize that the federal funds, if a candidate decides to use public funding, is only $85 million for the whole election!

Hillary did not announce her March donations and she will not until the April 20th filing deadline. No doubt this is due to the numbers for Hillary being low for March. Maybe even below $20 million dollars. Less than half of the amount Obama raised in March. If Hillary had raised large numbers in March her campaign would be telling everyone who would listen to prove she is still a viable candidate. Not announcing them can only mean bad news.

The surprising part of this is that Obama is out campaigning Hillary Clinton. This is amazing because the Clintons should have easily been prepared to destroy Obama in the campaign game. Hillary knew more people in the business. She had more contacts. She and Bill had run national campaigns before. They had plenty of money early and had all of the time in the world to prepare for the Democratic primaries.

Obama March Number:

March Fundraising by the Numbers
Total Raised in March: More than $40 million
Contributors in March: More than 442,000
First-Time Contributors in March: More than 218,000
Average Contribution: $96
Total Contributors to Date: More than 1,276,000

H. Clinton March Numbers:
Said by her campaign "to be close to $20 Million."

This means that the NEW Obama supporters ALONE gave MORE than ALL of Clintons supporters in March. This has extremely important implications for the viability of H. Clintons campaign.

Of course in Clinton Math "close to $20 Mil" may be as little as $15 Mil.  ;)

I'll make it brief.

There have been calls for Sen. Hillary Clinton to quit, some people say yes, some people say no, or that she should not be asked to do it, or that she will not consider it because she is out of touch with reality or that she must absolutely win because... (List your speculations)

This investigative article appeared in the March 26, 1977 edition of the Albuquerque Journal, published in conjunction with the "Arizona Project" investigation into organized crime in Arizona, following the car bombing death of Arizona Republic newspaper's investigative reporter, Don Bolles.

I have transcribed the article, and I've included pics of the article pages, if you want to read it directly, yourself. It is plain to see that McCain's father-in-law, James Hensley, and his brother Eugene, via the record of their mob associations, multiple felony arrests, and convictions, began their "business" careers as mob soldiers under Arizona organized crime boss, Kemper Marley.

McCain arrived in Arizona, circa 1980, with no ties to the state. Don Bolles had been murdered less than 5 years before. McCain accepted a position as VP of PR at his new father-in-law's "firm", Hensley & Co., beer distributorship. McCain had to wonder, and must have found out, the background of Hensley and how he came to own one of the largest beer distributorships in the US, yet he accepted Hensley's financial help and connections, in his personal life, and in all of his political campaigns.

Super Tuesday has past.  Hillary and Obama are neck-and-neck for the nomination.  They are both spinning the events, manipulating them to their advantage for the supporters and the undecideds. Both have started to carve out their unique target segments of Democrats, centrists, unaffiliated and independent -- and the crucial, nail-biting finish is at hand.

Obama raised millions! -- Grabs the headlines!...but then, after neck & neck Super Tuesday...Hillary has to loan her campaign $5 million and her staff volunteers without pay...hmmm, let's pause, reflect, analyze....

...his cool, no doubt, when he reads of all these additional troops who were killed in Iraq in the past couple of days:

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Six soldiers were killed and four were wounded Wednesday in a booby-trapped house in Diyala, the U.S. command said. It also announced that three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded in an attack Tuesday in Salahuddin province, north of Diyala.

The toll marked some of the deadliest days for U.S. forces in Iraq since last fall. For all December, 23 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

I'm sure Clinton and Edwards would lose theirs as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Just a footnote in the NY Times.

I've seen diaries here alerting us to Bush's fundraisers for one of his rubberstamp candidates. Well, here comes another. Our local loathesome zombie-of-obedience senator is apparently getting a cash infusion from both Bush and Cheney in separate events. So what do you think, netizens? Do you want to send another "Bush is a boat anchor" message by supporting Noriega? The ActBlue link is http://www.actblue.com/...

America is stuck in a ditch.
We need visionaries to get us out.
Blue Visionaries, like John Edwards.
Visionaries who are not content with merely keeping up with "competitors",
but who are actively creating the future.
The POSSIBLE America.

John Edwards is such a visionary.
But he needs our help.
He needs our support, and he could certainly use your donations.

John Edwards knows that America’s greatest inventions have been Social Innovations, like the Internet, transportations systems, advanced forms of peace...and is eager to foster the research and development of new and green ways of doing things, including tomorrow’s evolutionary technologies.
And he wants to include all people in the development of these new tools, lifestyles and environments.

Look at Cirque du Soleil or Disney World. did someone ask for all those wondrous worlds they created there? No! They were not satisfied with merely giving people what they said they wanted. They were visionary. Still are. They wanted to take it to the limits of possibility, and create the possible show. And they are constantly creating more and more wondrous worlds, manifesting remarkable visions. Blue visions.

Private equity firms invest middle-class pension money in brain-dead schemes, steal taxpayer money, strip the companies they buy of workers, collect huge paychecks and pay little or no taxes.  The average secretary at one of those firms pays a higher tax rate (35%) than the partners at a private equity firm (15%).

Some in Congress want to rectify these glaring inequities and simultaneously get valuable, well-deserved revenue to fund social programs.  But others in Congress (including some who are quite vociferous in Senate Judiciary Committee hearings) flatly refuse to change the status quo.

Bedeviled by dreams of people afraid to be anything more than "edgey," I awoke this morning ruminating about the sad state of affairs. I awoke extremely angry about the evolution of America and what it means for the people. At this point in my life—I was around to greatly appreciate Nixon’s resignation and "flower power"—I find it all very discouraging. But for the progressive movement evidenced in liberal expression online, I’d just give up on it all and zone out.

Sometimes things do crystallize. The 4th of July is—in these times—an auspicious subliminal event on which our minds work for days or weeks ahead of time. Recent impeachment discussion has made a dkos fertile place to dwell, adding to the churning, fermenting, tormenting and epiphany-creating thoughts that plagued my sleep.

I don’t know if dkos readers will be interested in a non-impeachment, non-Libby diary. Regardless, I want to put it all into words for my own edification, if only to clear my mind.

With their vote today; passing an emergency funding bill for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (51 – 47), the new Democratic majority in the United States Senate joined with their counterparts on the United States House of Representatives in accepting the role they have been tasked with by the voters in November, 2006. In the face of strong Republican opposition in both chambers and the almost taunting threat of a Whitehouse veto, the new Democratic Congress has, I believe, captured the full intent of the American people on the issue of Iraq: We must fund our troops in harm’s way while setting a time table for ending US military involvement in that country.

This should be a simple one.  Bush says that even if it passes the House and Senate, he will veto any Supplemental that requires an exit from Iraq during his term.  There has been no discussion of what the people will demand from their representatives when the real Supplemental bill - $100B+ in new funding for Iraq fighting with no strings attached - finally comes up for a vote.

Please consider Recommending this diary so we can understand how this community feels about actual, binding, non-symbolic votes their representatives will be making.

With all the argument about Iraq, there is one crucial point that has rarely, if ever, been raised.  At least I've never seen it, other than from myself.

When or if the supplies for the troops start to dry up for lack of funding, they will not just sit there, curl up into a fetal position and wait for death.  They will leave -- along with many or most of their officers. Whether or not the generals order it and whether or not Bush orders it and whether or not Congress orders it.

They will leave.  THEY. WILL. LEAVE.