Pics from DNC up on my photos website

Along with climbing the highest point in Colorado, some Canyonlands astrophotography, Arches’ Delicate Arch at sunset, and more.

Technically, I flew back out of Denver the day before the convention started, and besides, people could barely get close enough to the Pepsi Center to sniff the air.

Besides that, I wanted to go to the protest site at Cuernavaca Park.

It’s the Dems by a point

That’s the Guardian’s take on the dueling conventions.

DNC wrapup — yes, many WERE fooled again

While the Sarah Palin show has been Terrell Owens-“getcha popcorn”-level entertainment, as well as seriousness, let us NOT forget that last week’s DNC in Denver was NOT a “city on a hill,” either.

Let’s start with that, namely, Democrats’ exploitation last Thursday of “ordinary people” who don’t know just how much Democrats, as well as Republicans, have screwed them over in the past 15 years. (Small comeuppance is financial analysts, lawyers, MSM media and more now starting to face the Wrath of Outsourcing themselves.)

After that, we had Dick Durbin’s delicious interlude of hypocrisy, in which he tried to tell us with a straight face that B.O. would protect (what’s left of) our civil liberties. Sure.

Thursday, was capped by Obama’s acceptance speech, thin gruel to a progressive civil libertarian. No mention of Gitmo, no mention of the (possibly) illegality of Iraq, beyond its stupidity, and certainly no mention of many of Bush-Cheney’s illegalities on the home front, such as the U.S. District Attorney firings (and I’m not even talking FISA).

And, I haven’t even touched on the sudden Democratic Thursday, was capped by Obama’s acceptance speech, Cold Warrior fondness for Georgia.

Before all that, we had the Tuesday night follies of Blue Dog payola and Passive Pelosi™ bullshitting to start the DNC on the right track.

The result was that Dennis Kucinch’s “Wake Up, America” speech really should have been called Wake Up, Democrats.

Just some reminders that a Green vote is NOT a wasted vote.

Don’t ever let ANYBODY tell you your vote is “wasted” without challenging that. It’s an attempt at co-option, an attempt at playing Democrats’ version of the “politics of fear,” and a discounting of your political opinion.

Obama speech — B-plus on politics but C-minus on progressivism

Obama had a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Looking at it in terms of political strategy and accomplishments, I'd give him a solid B+, I think. No higher than that, though, due to delivery and lack of charisma more than content issues, but some on that.

I terms of true progressivism, he gets a C-minus. (See Durbin post immediately below, in part.)

1. Some good lines about change, and some specifics of what he would do, though a lot of it is a generic grab bag.

2. “Eight is enough” not bad

3. He does a decent job in saluting women’s rights issues more than once.

4. Even at his most charismatic, I’ve never thought of him as that charismatic. And tonight, he wasn’t. David Brooks (I was watching PBS) is right that he wasn’t very emotional, and that may have been due in part to the outdoor facility. It was also a bit long, yes.

5. Economic issues? If he wanted to make this election about the economy, he got a “B” there but no better. (Dinged as a political speech as much as on progressive grounds.)

6. Georgia, the nation? Damn, do Democrats have to be so stupid, and so hypocritical, as to out-Cold Warrior McCain while at the same time accuse him of being a diehard Cold Warrior?

7. Al Qaeda? Yesterday’s news on this year’s political radar screen. (Dinged as a political speech more than on progressive grounds.)

8. Good comments on McCain and patriotism, but weak in any attack. He could have said, “Great military qualifications don’t necessarily make for great presidential qualifications.”

9. Obama hypocrisy on gay marriage — he claims there are differences between him and McCain when, in the last month, at the Saddleback Forum Obama said he defined marriage as between a man and a woman. How is that different from McCain?

Greenwald generally agrees with my assessment, beyond just Obama:

(T)he Democrats, as a result of omissions, are largely guilty of doing what they typically do: appearing listless and amorphous by standing for nothing other than safe and uncontroversial platitudes.

Shorter Glenn: Obama’s drive for post-partisan politics includes ignoring why the Iraq War was a clusterfuck and how Bush became stubborn about it, and how it mutilated our civil liberties (Kerry’s one comment aside, Dems ignored Gitmo). But, Glenn says Obama’s speech, even more than Biden’s, was the best attack speech of the convention.

Obama’s deluded and ignorant average Joes and Janes on display

First, the Hispanic lady from Albuquerque should have been the final “ordinary person” speaker with her “si se puede” finish.

But, the ignorance, delusion, or self-delusion of many of the people was HUGE.

The Michigan trucker? Your Big Three were deliberately antienvironmentalist; that’s why you’re not transporting Big Three-built vehicles. You may, though, still transport American-built Toyotas and Hondas.

The Indiana factory worker? The one conveniently named Barney Smith? Former President Bill Clinton, with his push for NAFTA, and vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, with his vote for it, started the process of sending your jobs abroad, combined with the similar “New Democrat” push for the World Trade Organization. Neither the Slickster nor Sen. MBNA has apologized to you or other unionized, blue-collar Dems, have they?

The Indiana factory worker, part two? Your cute “Barney Smith not Smith Barney” line is in total ignorance of something like Goldman Sachs as top Obama donor.

And, over at Mother Jones, David Corn (who knows better), let the Barney Smith/SmithBarney line pass without comment.

The Albuquerque educator? Isn’t a $4K tax credit for any student wanting to go to college, without being means-tested, a stupid, expensive handout? And, doesn’t it just inflate college costs, and the clout of the university-as-business establishment, even more? Answers to all questions are yes.

The Florida small-business owner? Nobody’s putting a gun to your head to continue owning your business.

The North Carolina nurse? Self-insurance is expensive but not THAT expensive. And nurses’ salaries, even in the South, aren’t THAT low. Couldn’t you have bought at least a catastrophic policy for yourself? Answer, yes.

And, for anybody who accuses me of being heartless, I’m not insured right now myself, and I make less than $30K.

Denver PD goes Nazi Gitmo in spaces

A day after noting how the Denver Police Department went Nazi with a group of protestors in the area of the Democratic National Convention, the PD has allegedly exacerbated its original actions.

Protestors in shackles. Tricked in to false confessions or pleas. Denied access to attorneys.

And, this is all in deliberate spite (pun intended) of the fact that the ACLU had arranged for attorneys to be swiftly available to any arrested protestors.

More comment from the ACLU in this letter. (PDF)

And, let’s not forget that Denver’s Democratic Mayor John Hickenlooper continues to be silent on the police lawbreaking, on whether or not protestors arrested Monday did have a permit to be in the Colorado Civic Center and more.

And, you “Democrats right or wrong” voters wonder why I would vote Green.

It goes deeper than Barack Obama.

As for Denver, I hope it, and Hickenlooper and Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman personally, get their asses sued off.

DNC Wednesday night takes — good, bad and ugly

I didn’t see or hear Kerry’s speech, but I’ll give you this on the others:

Chet Edwards: That’s why he didn’t get the Veep nod. Dry speech, not rousing, not the best stump style. (Ugly)

Bill Clinton: The Big Dog did everything Obama could have wanted and more, in his own style. (Good)

Joe Biden: Little new from his Saturday speech in Springfield, Ill, except the line about women’s pay — unless he said that then and I missed it on the radio.

Unfortunately, Biden then went war hawk at the end with his anti-Russian, pro-Georgian comments. Idiots like him (and Obama, if he goes down that road) are as likely to get our ass in a foreign policy sling or a low-grade tussle as McCain is, with all three of them (and presumably Schmuck Talk Express™ Veep too) and their lying takes on Georgia-Russia. (Bad)

This duopoly internationalism is another reason I’m voting Green again.

Senator MBNA might just fit with his leader?

Note: This is retitled from a 2007 post, with a link from earlier this week from a Florida bankruptcy lawyer included in the main.

In addition to Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton voted FOR an initial version of the new bankruptcy bill in 2001, as did other now-presidentially deceased Democrats.

Barack Obama voted no on the 2005 version. But, is Obama totally clean?

Err, in the final 2005 bill, he voted AGAINST a 30 percent cap on interest rates. That’s because financial firms, as a industry/professional group, were his second-biggest bloc of donors already at that time; of course, they're at the top of the list now.

We need national regulation of the credit industry, and with standards tougher than Delaware and South Dakota. Unfortunately, we're not hardly any more likely to get it from a Biden administration than a McCain one.

Carmen Dellutri of Florida Bankruptcy Blog appears to agree. Dellutri also notes how both Obama and Biden cast an apparently political grandstanding vote re first mortgages and the bankruptcy code earlier this year.

I hate to sound like a naysayer, but these guys are smart and they know how to play politics.

OK to be a naysayer, Mr. Dellutri.

Democrats’ sellout and clusterfuck in Denver continues

All you “My Democrats right or wrong” voters are getting more and more challenges on the “wrong” this week, it seems.

First, Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Jane Hamsher and other ardent civil libertarian bloggers and journalists were turned away from an AT&T fundraiser for alleged Blue Dog Dems who voted for the FISA immunity bill.

Raw Story gets one thing wrong, though.

Since 45 percent of Dems, including Herr Obama, voted for the FISA mutilation, either “Blue Dog” is a lot bigger than it claims, or Raw Story is itself biased in Democratic image protection. (I think it’s more the latter, IMO.)

Second, Obama’s chasing after moderate evangelical Christians has backfired in part of the gay world.

Gay media mogul Paul Colichman said he (and his big checkbook) won’t support Obama after Obama, at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church, explicitly said marriage is between a man and a woman.

Mogul, indeed. Colichman owns The Advocate and Out magazines. In addition to putting his checkbook back away, he could well start firing up his laptop computer for some op-ed commentary.

Whether he was once a Clinton supporter or not, Colichman gets the bottom line right:

“If we always vote for the lesser of two evils, if we accept their crumbs and platitudes, if we write checks to candidates who don't stand up for us, aren’t we being self-destructive?” he argues.

Yes, indeed. Vote Green!

Third, Passive Pelosi™ bullshitted all over Denver when she called herself a “lioness.”

Ask Dennis Kucinich where the “lioness” has been for 18 months of his impeachment push. Ask the Democratic 55 percenters who knew how to vote where she was on the FISA amendments bill. Ask the troops still in Iraq who haven’t been killed in the last 18 months where the lioness has been. Ask the ones that she and Obama want to send, stupidly, to Afghanistan, where the lioness will be.

Denver police go Nazi?

Denver PD arrested more than 100 protestors who reportedly had a permit to be in the Colorado Civic Center. That’s after police reportedly surrounded the group so they couldn’t get out.

More details:
First, at least some arrestees were reportedly kept as long as 12 hours without attorneys. Also, police allegedly acted because some people had face-covering bandannas.

Second, police apparently tried to intimidate away from the area post-clash loiterers.

No word yet on protestors’ claims they had a valid permit.

Maybe that Democratic Mayor John Hickenlooper just doesn’t want protestors ruffling any feathers of his Democratic best buds and budettes.

Kucinich delivers DNC wakeup call

Given the fact that Passive Pelosi™, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, still will only give Dennis Kucinich the time of day about once a month, Denny’s stemwiinding “Wake Up American” speech at the Democratic National Convention probably could have been better titled “Wake Up Democratic Leadership.”

Given the crowd enthusiasm level, it’s hard not to argue that Democrats at a national/corporate/big donors level, really do marginalize the left; how else can you explain Kucinich not getting more traction in the primaries than he did?

Hillary watch — still plenty of PUMA anger

It’s not just the average Jane PUMAs that should concern the Obama camp; some rich Hillary Clinton donors are leaning McCain, such as Lynn Forester de Rothschild. And, given that Obama had earlier projected to have a money edge, that’s not the best thing. Clinton backers like this can put their money where their anger is.

That said, it looks like Obama’s campaign, in handling the Clinton as Veep idea, either didn’t do the best job, or close to it, of stroking her, or didn’t even care to try. And, I suspect it’s more the latter.

He could have leaked names of women on his Veep short list, such as Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius or Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, even if they weren’t actually on his short list.

Other people have been giving Obama advice on what he needs to say Thursday. I say he has to address the sexism issue somehow, and address it in depth.

We’ll see.

The bottom line is, how much of this anger is Hillary Clinton specific by her backers? How much of it is woman candidate generic? And, how much of it is Dem power player specific?

Quick take on Michelle Obama speech

Michelle Obama's speech... I'm sure she was nervous, but she came off as too scripted and too tight. Then, the "cuts" on the video scene with Barack afterward were mishandled. When he introduced his host family, we didn't see them for 30 secs. Then, when we did, they all looked too posed.

Given that the national conventions are now glorified infomercials/photo ops/video ops, this should have been carried off better than it was.

At the same time, on ABC, Stephanopoulos misquoted her line about not being REALLY proud as "not being proud." How often will this quote continue to get mangled by people who should know better?

The corporatization of the DNC in Denver

This story on corporate money “access” to the Democratic National Convention reinforces what I saw with my own eyes yesterday.

Corporate-sponsored pro sports-style skyboxes (if this were the RNC, we’d be talking Jack Abramoff, wouldn’t we?) are just the most obvious problem. Related to that is WHO some of the sponsors are:

He'll be in good company. Xcel Energy, Pfizer and Molson Coors, which each have given more than $1 million, will be among scores of deep-pocket donors with their own private luxury suites.

Coors, as in the Joe Coors who is probably the most prolific funder of right-wing think tanks, etc., west of Richard Mellon Scaife?

Xcel, as in an electric utility relying primarily on a fossil fuel, and operator of the controversial Prairie Island nuclear power plant? Xcel, as in sponsor of Xcel Energy Center in the Twin Cities, where the Repubs will meet in a week?

Outside the convention, the city of Denver (led by Democratic mayor John Hickenlooper) has “Denver 2008” banners sponsored by other big biz, such as Big Pharma’s AstraZenica?

Make me barf.

Chickenshit DNC and protestors – my sneak peak

After going to part of a Colorado Rockies game yesterday, before driving to Denver International to fly back to Dallas, I walked as closely to the Pepsi Center as I could, then to the “official protest site” at Cuernevaca Park 12 blocks away.

It’s bullshit, folks.

The Dems didn’t want to face this stuff, there was no security threat involved.

And, there were closer sites that would have worked fine.

There’s a large area of mixed bare concrete and weeds just six blocks away, north of Denver Union Station. Part of it was marked as private property, but not all of it. There’s other open space to the southwest of the Pepsi Center.

That said, walking about from the Pepsi Center toward the protest park, I told dozens of delegates, DNC staff, etc, “It’s not too late to vote Green.”

Ziegfied Follies, thy name is Democratic National Convention

The coronation of Barack Obama in Denver is going to have a bit of everything in the way of clusterfucks.

Some, like the DNC’s overpriced office rents, are old history.

Others, like the DNC’s color Nazis for local caterers’ food presentation, are laughable.

A few, like only three state delegations signing up to be fully “green,” at the convention, are serious hypocrisy works of art.

Yet others, like the chance that the “chicken ranch” caging for protestors will be next to the mass media’s setup area, are poetic justice, at least if it forces the MSM to give more, and better, coverage to protestors than it did at either MSP (mainstream party) convention in 2004.

And others, like an apparent tightness of hotel rooms, appear to be Denver’s fault.

No wonder Obama is looking at having his acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium. It’s probably cheaper, and less likely to be screwed up.

Why I think Sebelius would be a good VP pick — or Napolitano

HuffPost’s Sam Stein gets into the policy and politics details, adding flesh to the strategery bones, from where I sit, of picking a woman candidate. To me, the only other female candidate, off the top of my head, would be Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who might give Obama a bit of western states boost. Like Sebelius, she has been elected and re-elected in a traditionally Republican state, and has been similarly unafraid of playing hardball with the state legislature.

First, she’s clearly not afraid to go on the political attack in general. That makes her good VP material. Second, she has progressive credibility. Third, she’s got political skills.

Finally, although VPs generally aren’t big on tickets, nonetheless, I think Obama’s best bet is a woman running with him. True, there are some Hillaryite last-ditchers who say they won’t vote for an Obama-any other woman ticket, but we’ll see.

Some people have suggested retired Army three-star Claudia Kennedy, a John Kerry advisor in 2004, but I think she would be better as the first female Secretary of Defense, though we would have to wait a year for that due to the 10-year rule.

Back to Sebelius. I’ll take at face value her explanation that her response to the 2007 State of the Union address was not the proper place to go attack dog. Whether her decision was politically correct or not, it’s a decision she made. I don’t think she just had a “clunker” speech night.

Early winner on Kevin Drum’s worst post of the week

The comments, as well as Kevin’s original post, about the possibility of Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama’s VP are what make this one such a doozy.

Commenters proposing her for SCOTUS. Commenters saying she could run in 2016, imagining that sexism in the MSM and elsewhere would lessen with her being an “old woman” of 68 at that point.

Of course, Kevin ignoring the fact that Clinton’s campaign shoved her name into Obama’s face as part of wondering if she really wants it is interesting enough. And, then, there’s the waste of cyberspace by linking to the latest pro-Hillary inanity from pro-corporate shill Armando.

I'll venture that Clinton supporters like Juliet, a poster over at the WM threat, want to be "stroked." And no, not by Obama himself, but by Obama supporters who don't seem inclined to do that yet. Or possibly ever.

That's exactly what Arachnae is saying.

I don't many will vote for McCain, but, will a fair amount stay home? Yes.

If Vegas gave me odds on a certain percentage, I'd even make a small online bet.

ACLU demands Dem Convention answers from Denver

The Colorado ACLU wants the city of Denver to cough up more answers about parade routes, protest zones and more for the Democratic National Convention this summer, on behalf of 12 plaintiffs such as Recreate 68:

At the Democratic National Convention in Boston (in 2004), law enforcement authorities set up a much-criticized “demonstration zone” outside the heavily secured perimeter of the convention site. Ruling in a case filed only two weeks before the convention, a federal court described the zone — enclosed by concrete barricades, multiple layers of fencing, mesh, and netting, topped with overhead razor wire and located under an old rail line — as a “grim, mean, and oppressive space” comparable to “an internment camp,” and “an offense to the spirit of the First Amendment.”

And, here’s how that relates to Denver.

“Denver has refused to process any applications for parade permits during the DNC, and it has refused to disclose any information about the ‘demonstration zone’ that it plans to set up, ” explained Steven D. Zansberg, an ACLU cooperating attorney who, along with partner Christopher P. Beall at Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz, led the team filing the lawsuit today. “Denver says it is waiting for the Secret Service to decide the outer boundaries of the security perimeter, and the Secret Service says it may not decide until July. If the plaintiffs are forced to wait for these government agencies to act, there will be not be enough time for a court to review unreasonable restrictions on First Amendment activity.”

The court papers filed today refer to two stages of the lawsuit. In the first stage, the plaintiffs are asking the Court to order the Secret Service immediately to provide Denver whatever information the City believes it needs to process applications for parade permits, to determine parade routes, and to finalize and disclose plans for the anticipated demonstration zone. In the second phase, after Denver discloses the plans and its anticipated regulations of First Amendment activity, the Court will be asked to review those restrictions and to prohibit or modify those that unjustifiably infringe on First Amendment rights.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the ACLU, American Friends Service Committee, American Indian Movement of Colorado, Americans for Safe Access, CODEPINK, Escuela Tlatelolco, Troops Out Now Coalition, Recreate 68, Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, Citizens for Obama, Tent State University, and United for Peace and Justice. Both ACLU and Recreate 68 have been meeting and corresponding with City officials for a year, in an unsuccessful effort to iron out the City’s plans for marches and for demonstrations near the Convention site.

Several of the plaintiffs, including Recreate 68, Escuela Tlatelolco, and Troops Out Now, have filed timely requests for parade permits, but Denver will not process them and refuses to say when it will begin processing them. Plaintiff Citizens for Obama, created by Damian Sedney, a Vermont resident, has asked for permits for several marches in support of Senator Obama’s nomination. According to the lawsuit, Sedney has prepared a website to advertise the planned marches, but he is holding off until he knows whether or not he will obtain the necessary permit. Every day that goes by without action, the lawsuit asserts, reduces the ability of Sedney and other plaintiffs to recruit supporters and participants to come to Denver and join in their constitutionally protected activities.

Shorter version — the ACLU and its plaintiffs are afraid the city of Denver and the Secret Service are trying to exercise prior restraint, and their actions so far indicate that’s a very legitimate fear.