On the shorter versions of the short lists Ive seen lately Joe Biden is a common denominator on all of them. Yes Biden ruled it earlier, but I think he was being coy. Biden is one of my favorites, and I much prefer Biden to some of the Veep prospects from Red States.

The chours about Biden being Obama's pick has grown in the last few hours:

Biden rises among vice presidential candidates, sources say - L.A. Times

WASHINGTON -- As Sen. Barack Obama prepares to announce his vice presidential pick, some people close to Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. say he has leaped to the top of the list of prospects.

Pakistan's President Musharraf is about to step down, This move was expected since Musharraf has said many times he would rather resign than face his impeachment, which is about to get underway in Pakistan's parliament.    

Musharraf finally gives up "saving" Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Faced with the humiliation of impeachment, former army chief Pervez Musharraf quit as Pakistan president on Monday, having lost political, popular and increasingly even U.S. support.

Below ther fold is an excerpt from my diary writen last weekend:

This crisis came as a surprise to no one. Especially the US, Europe, NATO, and the OSCE. In this excellent article at Caucaz Europenews, journalist Ahto Lobjakas describes Georgia's minister of reintegration, Temor Iakobashvili visit to the EU, NATO, and the OSCE in May:

Georgia: Minister, Seeking EU Support, Warns War With Russia 'Very Close'

Brussels, 6 May 2008 - Georgia is warning Western governments that there is a real risk of war with Russia unless Moscow is persuaded to reverse recent decisions to strengthen ties with the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.

Georgia's minister of reintegration, Temor Iakobashvili, was in Brussels on May 5-6 to meet with EU and NATO officials before heading to Vienna for talks with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

It took both parties to start this war, and actions by both sides were starting to spiral upward toward a conflict in May.

The Georgians were frustrated that Russia was dominating the negotiations to resolve the status of the disputed territories, and that Russia dominated the peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia, and Abkhazia.

Tonight ABC's World News reported that last month the pilot of Obama's campaign plane declared an emergency after one of the plane's emergency exit slides deployed in flight and the pilot lost full pitch control of the aircraft.

Earlier the FAA said that the pilot had NOT declared an emergency. When the plane descended below 10,000 feet the pilot regained full pitch control and the plane was able to land normally.

EXCLUSIVE: FAA Tapes Reveal Drama of Obama Jet Incident
Audio Contradicts FAA Account of "No Emergency"

The incident involving Sen. Barack Obama's campaign plane last month was much more serious than the airline or the Federal Aviation Administration said, according to FAA control tower tapes obtained by ABC News.

At the time, an FAA spokesperson said the pilot did not declare an emergency and the airline owner, Midwest Airlines, said safety "was never an issue."

The tapes, to be broadcast tonight on ABC News' World News with Charles Gibson, show otherwise.

This is HUGE.

Israeli Newspaper Haaretz is reporting that the Bush Administration has turned down Israel's request for weapons to help it attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

U.S. rebuffs Israeli request for arms geared toward Iran strike

The American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

The Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran.

A red light from Bush makes an Israeli attack on Iran less likely. This also makes it less likely that the U.S. would be dragged into a regional conflict following an Israeli attack on Iran.

Becoming embroiled in a regional war would be too high a price for the U.S. to pay to preserve Israel's nuclear monopoly in the region (if that's what is even at stake here).

The U.S. backed negotiations between Israel and Palestinians have ground to a halt. Israel’s government is unwilling to talk about both peoples sharing Jerusalem as the capital of two States. Ahmed Qurie the Head Palestinian negotiator has come to the sad realization that the negotiations have been in vain. Qurie now knows that Israel is as unlikely to negotiate a Two State Solution in good faith. Now he is looking at a very different solution, a solution that rapidly is becoming the only path forward as Israel carves off more and more chunks of the occupied West Bank foreclosing any possibility of a contiguous State for the Palestinians on the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian negotiator considers binational state

"If Israel continues to oppose making this a reality, then the Palestinian demand for the Palestinian people and its leadership (would be) one state, a binational state," he added at the meeting held in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

His comments were carried in a statement issued after the meeting.

From Israel's Haaretz: PA: We may demand binational Israeli-Palestinian state

Things are quickly falling into place for the impeachment of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. On Thursday the leaders of  the ruling coalition in Pakistan's parliament agreed to move forward with President Musharraf's impeachment. On Friday a two day meeting of the top brass of Pakistan's army concluded with a statement that didn't even mention Musharraf's troubles. Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani former head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service is in a position to call the shots, but he has started to move the army away from politics. Today a top Musharraf political ally Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain confirmed that Musharraf won't dissolve the parliment (Musharraf is in Beijing). Musharraf would have to have the support of Pakistan's army to dissolve the parliament. The Army would be more likely to intervene in the political process if the impeachment of Musharraf turns into a prolonged constitutional crisis that creates more instability inside the country. Increased instability is also something that worries the U.S. which has strong ties with the Pakistani military.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's ruling coalition will move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf on charges of plunging the country into a political and economic crisis, party leaders said on Thursday.

Like many Americans I work for a corporation. I am lucky because I belong to a Union that helps give employees some say in the decisions our employer makes that govern our working lives. Being part of a union has improved my standard of living significantly.

This has not come without having to fight for it. We had to strike in 2005, in 2002, in 1995, and in 1989. Our employer keeps trying to give workers the shit end of the stick, and we have to keep clobbering Management with the blunt interment of a strike to remind the corporate elite that they don't constitute the whole company.

This year the company seems to want another strike. The company's contract proposal if full of putrid take away provisions, like the ones that would eliminate pensions, and retiree health care for new workers.

So now I am saving my money for a strike that is looking more and more likely. This strike could go on for weeks or it could go on for months, like the Strike in 1995 did, when we had enough backbone to reject the company's paltry fall back offer after being out for more than 2 months (after that second rejection the company caved).

A very disturbing report by NPR revealed a side of Israel Americans are rarely allowed to see by our MSM. A side of Israel that uses Jerusalem’s racist municipal bureaucracy to put pressure on the Arab residents of occupied East Jerusalem to leave the city by squeezing the housing supply available to Arabs.

 Dispute Over East Jerusalem Imperils Peace Talks

Israeli officials say they destroyed the home because of a zoning violation. They call it a legal demolition of an illegally expanded building. The owner, Majid Abu Eesha, sees it as an attempt to expel Arabs from the east side of the city that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

"This is a message to all East Jerusalemites," Eesha says. "They don't want any Arabs here. They want a pure Zionist Jerusalem."

The perception that the demolition of houses amounts to a Zionist land grab is widespread among Arab East Jerusalemites. Palestinians complain bitterly that Israel unfairly denies them building permits while encouraging Jews to build here.

Since the 1967 when East Jerusalem was first occupied, Israeli authorities have allowed almost no new construction by the Arab residents of the city.

On June 19, 2004 Candidate George Bush took some time during a campaign swing to the West Coast to visit Madigan Army Medical Center and make a speech to troops at Fort Lewis Washington along with Senator John McCain.

Photo of McCain and Bush at Ft. Lewis

Not only was the Press in tow taking PHOTOS and VIDEOS of Candidate Bush with the Troops on a military base during an election year, but Bush made American taxpayes pick up the tab for his campaign trip to the West Coast.

Here is the Washington Post's story on the 2004 Bush appearance with McCain at Fort Lewis:
 

Bush, McCain Look Beyond Differences
In Appearance at Washington Army Base, Republicans Rally Veterans' Support

FORT LEWIS, Wash., June 18 -- President Bush and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) put aside their animosity Friday and hugged onstage at a rally for 6,000 soldiers,...  

Here is the N.Y. Times coverage of the same 2004 Bush speech at Fort Lewis:

McCain's AMUF Speech is a Window into his NeoCon Soul.

On October 10th 2002 John McCain made a long speech to justify his vote for war in Iraq.

This speech is a telling indicator on how he views America's role in the world, and what approach he as the American President would be likely to take toward Iran.

McCain starts off with a jingoistic call to arms, with some scary talk thrown in as a hook.

It will reveal whether we are brave,
and wise or reluctant self-doubting,
and in retreat from a world that still,
in its cruelest corners, possesses a mer-
ciless hostility to our values and inter-
ests.

Then McCain describes the white man's burden to show brown Islamic men the error of their ways, with some more scary talk. This is a classic NeoCon update of Imperialism.

It will help determine whether the
greater Middle East will progress
toward possession of the values
Americans hold to be universal, or
whether the Arab and Islamic worlds
will be further influenced by a tyrant
whose intent is to breed his own viru-
lent anti-Americanism in all who fall
under his influence, and use that influ-
ence to hurt us gravely.

Bush wants Congress to lift the ban on developing Oil Shale on federal lands on the Green River Plateau in Colorado and Utah.

That brought an immediate response from Colorado's Democratic Governor Bill Ritter:

GOV. RITTER CRITICIZES FEDS OVER OIL SHALE REGULATIONS

"Someday the technology may exist that will allow us to responsibly extract oil from Colorado shale. But that day is years away. That day will only come when crucial questions about impacts to water, air quality, wildlife and our local communities -- are fully understood and answered. That day is not today. This was a premature and unnecessary act by the federal government that is not supported by science or technology.

Extracting oil from shale rock is an extremely dirty, insanely carbon intensive process, that will dump huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere because the shale rock has to be heated to 700 degrees to get the oil out.

The Editor of the The Austin American-Statesman has apologized for the Front Page Story  that upset me and many other attendees of Netroots Nation 2008 at how we were portrayed, and especially upset the American-Statesman's readers in Austin.

Editor's note: Netroots Nation story

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Readers expect front-page stories to speak directly and clearly about events and issues. Eliminating the possibility of misunderstanding from our work is a critical part of our daily newsroom routine. When we communicate in a way that could be misinterpreted, we fail to meet our standards.

Our front-page story Sunday about the Netroots Nation convention included doses of irony and exaggeration. It made assertions (that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might find herself at home politically in Beijing, for example) and characterizations ("marauding liberals" was one) meant to amuse. For many readers, we failed.

Former Prime Minister Airel Sharon faced a dilemma: he wanted more land in the occupied West Bank for the Israeli settlement expansion the radical zionist settlers had been clamoring for, but he wanted to find a way to exclude the present inhabitants of that land. Sharon's solution was to to build an Apartheid Wall to separate the land from the Palestinian villages, where most Palestinian farmers who work surrounding land reside. Of course Sharon used improving security as a blanket pretext to justify building the Apartheid Wall.

Sharon's successor as Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has gone forward with Sharon's plans for the Apartheid Wall.

On Thursday a new U.N. Report was very critical of Israel's Apartheid Wall.

UN criticises West Bank barrier

The West Bank barrier Israel is building will be devastating for Palestinians if completed along its proposed route, the UN says.

In a report, the UN said thousands of Palestinians had already been cut off from their jobs, land or key services.

The report blamed Israel's decision to build the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the agreed border.

This may well be the most important event to occur this month.

            This is HUGE:

 MIT team increases efficiency of solar panels

"The question is, can you make a better solar panel that you can put on somebody’s roof?" said Jonathan Mapel, an author of the study and MIT graduate student who has co-founded a startup called Covalent Solar to turn the idea into a product. "The two things that matter are: you want more power output and you want to pay less for it."

The work at MIT could potentially do both, using a simple trick that makes more efficient use of the full spectrum of sunlight.

I think the dynamic this new poll points to will clinch it for Obama in November:

Poll: McCain's age more of an issue than Obama's race

CNN) — John McCain may be hindered more by his age than Barack Obama will be by his race as the two men vie for the White House, a new USA Today/Gallup poll suggests.

According to the new poll, 23 percent of Americans say McCain's age — he'll turn 72 next month — is likely to make him a less effective president were he to win the White House. That compares to only 8 percent who said Obama's race would make him a less effective president.

Overall, more than 8 in 10 Americans said Obama's race would make no difference in his effectiveness in the White House while 65 percent said the same about McCain's age.

Being 54, I can remember the Reagan years. I can remember having a doddering old fool for our president. The whole country was witness to the beginnings of Reagan's decent into Dementia. Look at Figure #1 in this PDF File. Scary stats. Americans have good reason to worry about McCain's age.

We all remember when Tom Buffenbarger, the head of my Union (The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) from when he launched into this memorable rant that ended up on national TV:

Channeling Howard Beale from the movie "Network," he yelled into the microphone, "Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter."
MSNBC

Well Buffenbarger is at it again. This comes from an on-line letter to IAM members explaining why the Machinists Vote 'Present' in AFL-CIO Endorsement of Obama.

In the Machinists Union, a predominantly blue-collar union, the impression continues to grow that Senator Barack Obama could care less about folks like us.

PDF File

John McCain drank deeply from the NoeCon's KoolAid in 2002 as his speech in favor of the Iraq War Resolution shows:

It will answer the fundamental question about America's purpose in the world, whether we perceive our beliefs to be uniquely American principles or universal values, for if they are so dear to us that we believe all people have the right to enjoy them, we should be willing to stand up for them, wherever they are threatened.

It will reveal whether we are brave, and wise or reluctant self-doubting,
and in retreat from a world that still, in its cruelest corners, possesses a merciless hostility to our values and interests. It will test us, as did September 11, except that we can choose to engage the enemy on our terms rather than wait for the battle to be brought to us.

PDF file

McCain completely buys into the NeoCon's bizarre theory to democratize the region through force of arms in Iraq.