I’m sure that I am not alone in feeling this way.  While I still believe that this election is Obama’s to lose, I wish the circumstances were a little different.  Many months ago, even before the Democrats had a presumptive nominee, they had a substantial advantage over any generic Republican candidate. With Bush’s approval at all-time lows and a Republican brand tarnished by scandal and incompetence, any Democratic candidate that emerged from the bruising primary campaign would have the wind at his or her back.

I'm putting this out there just to deflate expectations among the space-cadets that something might come of this.

From an interview on NYDailyNews.com:

What future projects are you working on?

Well, I'm helping to celebrate 40th reunions of all the Apollo missions and developing lotteries for people to travel in space - like Richard Branson's flight, but also for orbital flights. In California, I'm also developing some education programs. I'm also strongly supporting and working with oilman T. Boone Pickens and his plan for energy alternatives. I want him to include solar power on satellites in space.

It would be terrific to have someone with Pickens' resources pushing SBSP, but his plans involve using current technology to wean America off oil, so I do not imagine he'd adopt anything other than a wait-and-see attitude regarding SBSP research.

The media and Republicans have seen Georgia and the national security issue as a big opportunity to get McCain ahead.  Is the Obama camp too naive about what they are up against?  Democrats always need to realize they are in for an uphill battle with the media the way it is and the Republicans ability to fearmonger.  I got scared after reading these three things and other things lately:

I read Arianna's Piece "Prepping to Make the Case that McCain Isn't "Ready to Lead" on National Security" on HuffPo.

He realizes that if his hold on national security were to be aggressively challenged, his lead on that issue would evaporate. So I'm sure he's thrilled to keep the fighting far away from the one thing that could put him in the White House: the idea that he's somehow better at dealing with national security.

McCain has shown time and time again over the last seven years that, far from being an expert when it comes to foreign policy, he is frequently --- and dangerously -- clueless.
. . .
So every day between now and November 4th voters should be reminded that:

McCain has been among the most ardent supporters of the war in Iraq -- the most disastrous foreign policy decision in American history.

. . .

She goes on to list several examples from the vast repertoire of McCluelessness, and while she got the premise right, she sadly misses the punchline.

Danger after the fold.

The year is 2015. Worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases have soared even though in 2009 the newly elected president of the United States began to take radical steps to reduce U.S. greenhouse gases and persuaded America to join the international community in signing a new climate agreement in Copenhagen.

But now, with global warming posing a greater threat than even the worst doomsayers had predicted—desertification moving apace in Asia, Africa, and the U.S. Southwest; coastal flooding and increasingly intense typhoons and hurricanes wreaking havoc in the tropics; and rising numbers of "climate refugees" in the developing world—the UN secretary general calls a meeting of the United States, the European Union, China, and India, the world’s largest economies, to forge another deal to reduce emissions even further.

And what happens? Nothing. Why? Because China and the United States (along with India and the EU) cannot reach agreement on emissions targets for China.

You would think that amidst the GWOT we would be taking national security seriously and that seriousness would be demonstrated by a meaningful security clearance process. But not so.

crossposted from unbossed

Lotta talk today about Obama slamming McCain for being in the pocket of the oil industry and keeping gas prices up.

What I don't hear enough of is that our dependence on oil is a national security issue. The less oil we use, the safer we'll be.

Oil money paid the terrorists who flew the planes into the towers. Our thirst for oil keeps us in Iraq. Oil money props up Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez.

The Republican strategy is based on fear: the Democrats won't protect us. Why not hit them where they live? Why not show people that it's the Republicans who have handed our money to our enemies?

Some days ago, in the section Worst Persons in the World of his program Countdown, Keith Olbermann nominated Michael Goldfarb [or Gold-fart, if you let me] for saying that de Daily Kos community was constituted by nerds playing Dragons and Dungeons in their mothers' basements. That comment was posted in the Official McCain Campaign Blog.
The most upsetting in such a caricature was the picture of the Daily Kos community as one in which people who do not dare even to try to change reality and prefer to comfortably hide from the world. By then I tried to contact the Obama campaign to renew my offer of volunteering and to make some comments about an easy tactical movement that could have given the Obama campaign some points to score only to realize that, different from McCain's, the Obama campaign Web page was only partially working and their telephone numbers would not give you even the chance to leave a message.

As I pondered U.S. security and foreign policy, it struck me just how necessary it is that the national intelligence community undergo serious reform. Especially when facing a multi-national, multi-ethnic terrorist threat, the U.S. vitally needs intelligence agencies that are accountable, well-trained, and most importantly, good at what they do. Unfortunately, despite a $44 billion budget and one of the most diverse and largest talent pools ever (the American people), the intelligence community repeatedly fails, and has done so throughout its history.

While a few folks here panic over daily poll results, Barack Obama is doing what it takes to close the deal with the American people and drawing a clear contrast with Senator McCain.

Senator McCain would not take the steps or achieve the goals that I outlined today.  His plan invests very little in renewable sources of energy and he's opposed helping the auto industry re-tool.  Like George Bush and Dick Cheney before him, he sees more drilling as the answer to all of our energy problems, and like them, he's found a receptive audience in the very same oil companies that have blocked our progress for so long.

snip

So make no mistake - the oil companies have placed their bet on Senator McCain, and if he wins, they will continue to cash in while our families and our economy suffer and our future is put in jeopardy.  

Barack in Lansing, MI: "We must end the age of oil in our time."

This is a battle Obama will win.  More, after the fold.

One of my two closest girlfriends is a bit right of center.  She voted for GW both times, but by the second election was less enthusiastic to do so.  She knows I've been a big fan of Bill Clinton's.  Okay, less so now, but that's a subject for another time.  She knows I've done some work on the Obama campaign.  So with this knowledge between us, we don't talk politics much.  I've mentioned her in comments in the past.  She's the friend that while she was open to considering Obama, ultimately she's decided to vote for McCain.  She agrees we need change, but as you'll see below, she's not convinced Obama is 'the one'.

More below the fold.

Nietzsche talks about how Christian fundamentalism is outdated. And Bishop Spong goes even farther, arguing that theism is no longer a valid way of understanding God. In that regard, he carries on the meme first promoted by Nietzsche that God is Dead. But, that said, it is much harder to prove a negative than it is to prove a positive. The fact of the matter is that despite the advances of science and technology, the Big Bang that started it all is still shrouded in mystery.

I just got an email from Al Gore's WE campaign.  They are placing an ad in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post about the campaign to get us off carbon based fuels.

Keep Climate Change on Congress' Mind

We've created a hard-hitting ad to make sure that members of Congress don't forget to keep climate change at the top of their priorities over the August recess.

We need to raise $200,000 by July 30th to get our ad in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post!

Donate Here to WE to get the ad in the papers

You can see the ad here:

Finally, a Solution as Big as Our Problems

More, after the fold.

President Clinton won the '92 campaign against Bush the First by focusing on the economy with the now famous line -

It's the economy, stupid!

Bush was then considered unbeatable mostly due to his foreign policy triumphs with the Cold and Gulf Wars.

But everyone's favorite Ragin' Cajun Jim Carville made the point that Clinton was a better choice for people because Bush had been neglectful on the economy which was sputtering.

2008 is the same but slightly refined.

It's the energy policy, stupid!

The Examiner is a newspaper to which I am endlessly grateful because it gave me the opportunity to publish letters on immigration that liberal and Hispanic publications denied me despite The Examiner's very conservative position. Nevertheless, even though you can find interesting articles by Irvin Stelzer in the same newspaper or by David Brooks or George Will, there are authors like Jay Ambrose whose work should have earned them a place in The Onion. In this entry we will see Jay Ambrose's evolution (sic) on two issues through the letters I sent to The Examiner about Ambrose's articles. Some of these letters were published. The dates and titles to which I refer are those of my responses but Ambrose's articles could be found in The Examiner's editions previous to those dates.

As we discussed launching a Netroots platform in the run-up to Netroots Nation, the consistent theme in people's comments was, "I can't make it to Austin, how do I get my ideas into the platform?!?!?"

The concept, initially proposed by Jerome Armstrong, was to open the site to the world after kicking it off with a pair of Netroots Nation workshops.

That means now anyone can help create the Netroots platform - including YOU!

Just go here:

www.netrootsplatform.org

Read on for the details...

CNN has learned Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan.---CNN, (duh)

---UPDATE--- (per turneresq's suggestion)

US Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan, at the start of a campaign-season international tour.

Mr Obama flew to Kabul as part of a US congressional team. He is expected to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

He is later expected to visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.
---BBC

Alternate title:  McCain pulls a Plame on Obama's plane

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation.  John McCain at a campaign fund-raising luncheon. -- Reuters

For the record...  Webbies will be well aware that 'to flame' means to post inflammatory remarks about a person.  From this day forth, webbies should be aware of the following:

plame
\ˈplām\
Function: verb
Definition:  to publicly disclose information regarding a political opponent with the motive of endangering the opponents well-being while simultaneously hindering his/her ability to expose mistakes or manipulation (see Iraq war).  Disclosure is often presented as an 'innocent' off the cuff remark and/or through plausibly deniable sources that can always be pardoned.  
Etymology:  Early Netroots to flame Middle Netroots to politically flame    
Date:  Ancient cavemen and more recently the GOP.