Rioting at Democratic Convention

I was chatting with a Democrat friend of mine and mentioned that I thought there would be more rioting in the streets of Denver at the 2008 Democratic National Convention then in the streets of Chicago in 1968.

How could this happen? Well, as Senator Barrack Obama does poorly in the polls versus Senator John McCain nerves and emotions may run raw. Former President Bill Clinton will fire up the crowd as well as Senator Hillary Clinton who is scheduled to address the convention. Senator Clinton’s name will be placed in nomination and it is agreed that a roll call vote will be initiated. CBS News reports “Rep. Loretta Sanchez says she’s happy for the chance to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Democratic National Convention — and she predicts that as many as half of the Democrats in the House could join her.”

But the idea is at some point someone will move to suspend the vote and to nominate Senator Obama by acclamation, a voice vote. This is when all hell will break loose. A minority may yell no, but will sound louder than the majority yelling yes. The Chair will rule that the ayes have it, and those voting no will storm outside.

Outside there will already be protesters fired up:
- Anti-war protestors annoyed that Senator Obama is only pledging to remove combat troops from Iraq leaving 60,000 U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely
- Anti-war protestors annoyed that Senator Obama is pledging to add U.S. troops to and to intensify the war in Afghanistan
- Protestors concerned about global warming and against any use of fossil fuels annoyed that Senator Obama has indicated that he will support offshore oil drilling
- Protestors that have worked all their lives concerned about money in politics, working for public financing of elections annoyed that Senator Obama reneged on his pledge to become the first presidential candidate to reject spending limitations and public financing
- Protestors concerned about privacy and the Bush administration secret surveillance annoyed that Senator Obama voted to grant telecommunications companies retroactive immunity

Many Democrats are still enamored with Senator Obama including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who recently introduced Senator Obama saying he is a “leader that God has blessed us with at this time”. My Democrat friend is expecting great unity and a love fest in Denver. Well, we will shortly see.

Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama

See Wednesday, August 20, 2008 article from of all sources, Reuters:
“Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama” at http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUKN1948672420080820?sp=true

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – “In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll.”

L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll Obama 12-percentage Point Lead is Gone

■ “The results in the four-way contest: Obama, 42%; McCain, 41%; Nader, 4%; Barr, 1%.” August 2008
■ “In June, those figures were Obama, 48%; McCain 33%; Nader, 4%; Barr, 3%.”

See Los Angeles Times August 19, 2008 article “Experience a key John McCain advantage in new L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll” at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/08/experience-key.html

Gov. Richardson Says Georgia Part of Russia’s Territory

See http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/08/sunday_snapshot_51.html

Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson speaking on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" Sunday August 10, 2008, as reported by National Journal's Hotline said:
“My view is that the United States--if we had a stronger relationship with Russia, we could exercise strong diplomacy to stop this effort against Georgia. We should immediately go to the United Nations Security Council, condemn Russia's action, and then get the Security Council to pass a strong resolution getting the Russians to show some restraint, and possibly at the same time generate some U.N. peacekeeping troops. The problem, though, is that we don't have the kind of influence and strength in our relationship with Russia to persuade them. This has been one of the failures of the Bush administration, failing to build a strong relationship, a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia, so we'd have the kind of influence to persuade them to stop some of these very, very dangerous efforts within their territory.”

Iraq Hopes to Double Proven Oil Reserves

Iraq resumes oil exploration after 20-year break August 8, 2008 see
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080808154416.uocmqv78&show_article=1

“Iraq said on Friday it was resuming exploration of its immense oil reserves after a break of nearly 20 years due to crippling UN sanctions, saying it hopes to double its proven deposits of crude.”

Mainstream Media Ignore John Edwards Affair vs McCain “Affair”

See New York Times August 8, 2008 article "Reticence of Mainstream Media Becomes a Story Itself" by Richard Pérez-Peña and Bill Carter see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/business/media/09media.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
■ “For almost 10 months, the story of John Edwards’s affair remained the nearly exclusive province of the National Enquirer — through reports, denials, news of a pregnancy, questions about paternity and, finally, a slapstick chase through a hotel in Beverly Hills.”
■ “Jay Leno and David Letterman made Mr. Edwards the butt of jokes on their late-night shows, but their own networks declined to report on the rumors surrounding him on the evening news. Why?”
■ “the three broadcast network newscasts, the three cable news networks, and most of the major newspapers and magazines did not say a word.”
■ “CBS kept track of the story but did not actively pursue it. ‘We saw no reason to make his life or the life of his family any worse, until it became well-documented or he admitted it, which is what happened today’,”
I think it is obviously partisan given that the New York Times had no qualms about running February 21, 2008 a front page story about a possible John McCain affair "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk". see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1218311025-OZhSzMJOoP4lDHixM1AyJg
■ “A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.”

Senator Barack Obama Brings Up Race Again

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid.” “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?” [Senator Barack Obama D, Ill. June 23, 2008]

Three times in July 31, 2008, Senator Obama made near identical statements:
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.” See http://www.plnewsforum.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/36918/
July 31, 2008 TV show Hardball panel agreed that Barack Obama played the race card when he accused John McCain of saying that Obama "doesn't look like the other presidents on the currency:" They might know it is not a new statement. http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/obama_flip_flops_on_dollar_bill_comment_now_says_it_really_was_about_race/

This is Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs responding on Thursday to criticism of Obama’s “I don’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.” comments: “What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn’t get here after spending decades in Washington,” Gibbs said Thursday. “There is nothing more to this than the fact that he was describing that he was new to the political scene. He was referring to the fact that he didn’t come into the race with the history of others. It is not about race.”

Whale Oil Before Petroleum

Interesting article in the New York Times Sunday, August 3, 2008 “They Used to Say Whale Oil Was Indispensable, Too” by Peter Applebome. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/nyregion/03towns.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

It includes:
■ “whaling at its peak seemed impregnable, its product so far superior to its trifling rivals, like smelly lard oil or volatile camphene, that whaling interests mocked their competitors.”

■ “From the 1700s through the mid-1800s, oil extracted from the blubber of whales and boiled in giant pots gave light to America and much of the Western world. The United States whaling fleet peaked in 1846 with 735 ships out of 900 in the world. Whaling was the fifth-largest industry in the United States; in 1853 alone, 8,000 whales were slaughtered for whale oil shipped to light lamps around the world, plus sundry other parts used in hoop skirts, perfume, lubricants and candles.”

■ “Eric Jay Dolin, who wrote some of the text for the exhibit and is the author of “Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America.” Whales near North America were becoming scarce, and the birth of the American petroleum industry in 1859 in Titusville, Pa., allowed kerosene to supplant whale oil before the electric light replaced both of them and oil found other uses.”

■ “By 1861, whaling was in such decline that the federal government bought 38 old whaling ships, loaded them with stones and sunk them in Charleston Harbor in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to blockade the Confederate port.”