Dyre PortentsDyre PortentsThe Political Rantings and Raving of a Radical Moderate. Speaking truthiness to power since February. Articles
Obama Enters the Veepstakes
2008-05-23 08:00:00 Looks like he's not going to let McCain get ahead of him in the Veep hunt...From the AP:Obama has asked former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson to begin vetting potential vice presidential picks, Democratic officials said Thursday. Johnson did the same job for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984. Obama refused to acknowledge Johnson's role when The Associated Press asked the Illinois senator about it in the Captiol Thursday. "I haven't hired him. He's not on retainer. I'm not paying him any money. He is a friend of mine. I know him," Obama said. "I am not commenting on vice presidential matters because I have not won this nomination." The Democratic officials spoke on a condition of anonymity about a process that the campaign wants to keep quiet. Vice presidential searches are usually closely held secrets, but Obama campaign officials say the effort is being handled by a particularly tight circle of advisers.Additionally Obama spoke about building a Linc... More About: Barack Obama
McCain to Interview Potential Veeps
2008-05-22 08:21:00 McCain is scheduled to hold meetings with Mitt Romney, former Florida governor Charlie Crist, and Governer Bobby Jindal of Louisiana this weekend.From the NY Times:Senator John McCain is planning to meet this weekend with at least three potential Republican running mates at a gathering at his ranch in Arizona, suggesting that he is stepping up his search for a vice president now that the Democratic contest appears basically decided, according to Republicans familiar with Mr. McCain?s plans. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a one-time rival for the Republican nomination, have all accepted invitations to visit with Mr. McCain at his ranch in Sedona, these Republicans said. After a week of campaigning, Mr. McCain is heading home on Friday for three days without a public schedule. His campaign described this as a social weekend that would include a number of couples, and ? as has been its policy it... More About: Interview
Quote of the Day
2008-05-22 07:23:00 "Hey, the concepts of fiscal restraint and minimal interference by the government in the lives of its citizens have a lot of value. Too bad that we don't have any political parties that believe in that." - Me More About: Quote Of The Day , Quote
Dear Mr Pesident
2008-05-21 08:30:00 Back when you were originally running for president you said that you'd make charitable donations a deduction on the 1040EZ. When exactly is that going to happen?Sincerely,Dyre42
Obama Has Double Digit Lead in National Polls
2008-05-21 08:04:00 But fares less well against McCain than Clinton.From Gallup Polls :PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Poll Daily tracking finds Barack Obama with his largest advantage over Hillary Clinton in Democratic voters' nomination preferences thus far, 55% to 39%. Obama's previous largest lead was 11 percentage points, in May 15-17 and April 12-14 polling. His widening lead over Clinton has been evident in each of the last three days of tracking, after the two had been more closely matched earlier in the month.Despite her growing deficit to Obama in the Democratic race, Clinton continues to poll slightly better than Obama in matchups for the general presidential election vs. John McCain. The latest tracking results, based on May 14-18 polling, shows Clinton with a 48% to 44% lead over McCain among registered voters nationwide, while Obama has just a 1-point edge (46% to 45%) over the likely Republican nominee. -- Jeff JonesI'm curious as to whether or not the feuding between the Obama and Clinton cam... More About: National , Double , Lead
Expected Results
2008-05-21 07:29:00 Clinton won Kentucky and Obama won Oregon. While it appears that Clinton cut into Obama's pledged delegate lead she failed to drop him below a triple digit lead. Meanwhile superdelegates continue to defect to Obama's camp. Will Clinton capitulate? Nope, she going to fight to the bloody end unless she gets what she wants. Over at Stubborn Facts Tully explains:That internal division of power and perks applies even if the nominee loses the general election. With the party looking to be in control of both houses of Congress for the immediate future, the rewards are enormous. As point person for the DLC/Centrist faction, there is no real reason at all for Clinton to concede at this point even if she knows she won?t win the nomination. Unless the party leaders and the opposition faction agree to give HER faction some outsized influence at the convention, the power play for Clinton and for the DLC/Centrist faction is to continue fighting, to grab more sway and more delegates for the cont... More About: Results
Finally
2008-05-21 06:46:00 Over the course of my blogging career I've had a few major technical setbacks. The first is when Real Clear Politics' Buzztracker moved to Fox News they dropped my blog from their rolls which resulted in a 50% decrease in traffic. The second being that Technorati quit indexing my blog for about a year resulting in further loss of traffic (I really was blogging about Ron Paul because he and his followers were interesting and not just trying to suck in extra traffic). While the former was eventually fixed it didn't matter as it appears that RCP Buzztracker lost a lot of traffic due to the move. The latter however was finally fixed Technorati began spidering my blog as of today and that means that all links here now count towards your Technorati authority. The downside is I lost fifty points of authority in the process. Frankly I'd rather have the extra traffic and be able to help those that I link to gain a little authorotai.So enjoy the link love folks. You deserve it. More About: Finally
Buffett Backs Obama
2008-05-20 07:24:00 Warren Buffet defected from the Clinton camp citing economic reasons....From the AFP: Warren Buffett , the world's richest man, is backing Barak Obama for US president and thinks current US economic policy will push the dollar lower against other global currencies Buffett told a press conference here Monday he had offered support to both Obama and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton but that since it appeared Obama would win the party's nomination, "I will be very happy if he is elected president. "He is my choice," Buffett said. Commenting on the US economy, the 77-year-old investor who is known as the "Sage of Omaha," stressed that fiscal, monetary and trade policies were of great importance. "I think that the US has followed and is following policies which will cause the US dollar to weaken over a long period of time," he said.I'm surprised that he endorsed Obama for the reasons cited. Obama has a good idea or two regarding the economy I don't see anything truly amazing abou...
Tired of the Primaries?
2008-05-20 04:20:00 Then head on over to Happy News where there is no primary coverage whatsoever just all the good news you care to read. More About: Primaries , Tired
Blogger Food Drive Week 2 Update
2008-05-20 00:06:00 Week two of the blogger food drive was even better than week one largely due to another double digit donor. At current prices we raised enough to donate fifty two pounds of food. And now its time to thank everyone who donated this week: Thanks to Gilded Pages for opting to be our largest donor to date. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.As promised here's another five pounds from me: More About: Food , Blogger , Drive , Update , Week
Sweetie-gate?
2008-05-16 08:15:00 Oh please. The fuss over Barack Obama calling a female reporter "sweetie" and his subsequent apology is non-issue. In fact I wouldn't bother mentioning it save that I think that in some regards it points to differences between rural/urban America as well as cultural the cultural divide that exists between the north/south . Having lived in the South my entire life I can honestly say that I've been called sweetie, hon, or sugar at least once a week for as long as I can remember normally by women I barely knew. Now I'm fairly certain that their intent wasn't to demean me. In fact I gave this matter a little thought a few years ago and came to the conclusion that those who use such terms lightly are generally speaking favorably inclined towards you and either don't know or have forgotten your name.Maybe its a sign of the times that people would would rather look for offense rather than give someone the benefit of the doubt. More About: Gate
Pinups for Vets
2008-05-15 07:55:00 Aspiring actress and model Gina Elise has been making period pinup photos of herself and donating the proceeds of her calender sales to California VA Hospitals. From Pin Ups for Vets: I came up with the idea to recreate a nostalgic pin-up calendar that would serve three purposes: 1. The calendars would be sold to raise funds for our hospitalized Veterans. 2. The calendars would be delivered as gifts to our ill and injured Veterans with messages of appreciation from the donors. 3. The calendars would be sent to our deployed troops to help boost morale and to let them know that Americans back home are thinking of them. Long term readers of this blog might wonder why I occasionally blog about pin up calenders and the answer is simple. I'm a subscriber to the theory that less is more in this instance meaning that a photo of a naked female has no mystery. Additionally those that modeled for period pin up p...
Edwards Endorses Obama
2008-05-15 06:22:00 Talk about a day late and a dollar short...From The Political Radar: Former Sen. John Edwards is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama 's presidential candidacy Wednesday evening, in a dramatic attempt by the Obama campaign to answer concerns regarding Obama's appeal to working-class voters, several senior Democratic sources tell ABC News. The Obama campaign confirms Edwards will endorse Obama at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan Wednesday. The event was originally scheduled to start at 7pmET, but was moved up to 6:20pmET, presumably to have the announcement make the evening news. Edwards, who ran for president on a platform of eradicating poverty, plans to appear alongside Obama for the announcement. The event comes one day after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Obama by 41 points in the West Virginia primary, and Edwards' endorsement will give Obama a key establishment stamp of approval as he attempts to close out the nominating process.While I'm sure that Obama appreciat...
Clinton Wins West Virginia
2008-05-15 03:18:00 Not that anyone expected anything different given the demographics...From the AP:As expected, roughly 95 percent of West Virginia Democratic primary voters were white. Half of voters were from rural areas.It was one of the oldest electorates among 31 Democratic primaries with exit polls to date, with four in 10 over age 60. The only other states with somewhat similar numbers were Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma ? and Hillary Clinton won all four states.It also was the electorate with the highest proportion ? just about seven in 10 ? of people who lack a college degree thus far this primary season. The same held true for whites without a college degree ? again, historically a strong Clinton group. According to CNN Clinton picked up nine pledged delegates. Which still leaves Obama with a triple digit lead. Whats more telling is that Obama now has a nine superdelegate lead over Clinton which means all totalled he has a 168 delegate lead over Clinton and if you've been readi... More About: Wins
Clinton Campaign Deep in Debt
2008-05-13 06:51:00 to the tune of twenty million dollars.From the WaPo:Clinton Team Acknowledges $20 Million Debt CLARKSBURG, W.Va., May 11 -- With her campaign falling ever deeper into debt, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a rainy Mother's Day seeking votes ahead of Tuesday's primary here, turning a deaf ear to calls for her to leave a Democratic presidential contest she has little hope of winning.Clinton aides continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. "The voters are going to decide this," senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on "Fox News Sunday," acknowledging the $20 million figure. "There is no reason for her not to continue this process." Wolfson said he has seen "no evidence of her interest" in pursuing the second-place spot on the Democratic ticket, contrary to rumors that she is staying in the race to leverage a bid for the vice presidential nomination.In part this shows exactly how badly she wants the nomination. But in my mi... More About: Campaign , Deep
Blogger Food Drive Week 1 Update
2008-05-13 06:25:00 Week one got off to a slow start. Not that I expected a landslide of support mind you. After all my target is only a dollar from every feed subscriber and reader of this blog rounded up to an even number. And now its time to thank everyone that contributed this week..Thanks to One Fly from Outta the Corn Field for being our first donor.A special thanks goes out to Doug Woodall for being the first double digit donor. Doug runs the site Spyware Biz which both rates and sells spyware protection. Additionally he blogs at The Spyware Biz blog where he covers computer and internet security related issues and news.Also thanks to Short Woman for promoting the blogger food drive on her blog. More About: Food , Blogger , Drive , Update , Week
Another Sign of The Apocalypse
2008-05-13 06:25:00 Nancy Pelosi and New Gingrich publicly agreeing on something...Of course the final sign of the Apocalypse is Tom Delay and Jane Fonda publicly agreeing on anything or (Jeb Bush becoming president which is slightly more likely). More About: Sign
Just a Reminder
2008-05-10 16:00:00 Today is the National Association of Letter Carriers' annual food drive. That means you can donate to your local food bank just by sticking a few edible odds and ends into a bag and putting them out by your mailbox. Its a great way to get rid of that commercially packaged fruitcake and that dusty old can of beets. Just make sure you beat the mailman to the mailbox.And now a related message from The Harlem Globetrotters More About: Reminder
Clinton Clinches Indiana But Obama Gains Ground
2008-05-07 07:39:00 As expected Clinton won Indiana and Obama pulled in a double digit win in North Carolina. However the Indiana primary proved to much closer than anticipated with Clinton winning by only two percentage points. The net result according to CNN is that Obama widened his lead by eleven pledged delegates this week (twelve if you include Guam). Pretty impressive if you consider that Obama managed that with the Rev. Wright albatross around his neck.But here is the cold hard truth for Clinton:Even if she managed to get Florida and Michigan's delegates seated Obama would still have a triple digit lead over her. After all 40% of Michigan's Dems opted to vote for "Undecided". More About: Barack Obama , Ground
More Than Just Pretty Words?
2008-05-07 06:43:00 It looks like Obama's supporters are doing more than buying into his "Change begins with you." meme. It would appear that they are implementing it. Over at Donors Choose, a site that lets teachers post their projects and donors choose which ones they want to fund, Obama supporters have donated more funds than anyone else and funded five times more projects than Clinton's supporters. Challenge Donated Donors StudentsReached Give in honor of Barack Obama $159,347 2327 34446 Give in honor of Hillary Clinton $29,220 327 10097 How much have John McCain's supporters donated? Less than ten bucks. I'm curious as to what the total charitable contributions of Obama's supporters are. Unfortunately there know way of calculating that. More About: Words , Pretty
In Defense of the Elite
2008-05-06 08:48:00 I've been seeing a lot of criticism of "elites" lately. And it seems to me like there is some sort of concerted effort to redefine the word. Its current definition is this...1.(often used with a plural verb) the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons. 2.(used with a plural verb) persons of the highest class: Only the elite were there. 3.a group of persons exercising the major share of authority or influence within a larger group: the power elite of a major political party. 4.a type, approximately 10-point in printing-type size, widely used in typewriters and having 12 characters to the inch. Compare pica1. ?adjective 5.representing the most choice or select; best: an elite group of authors.So by definition Green Berets, Navy Seals, Pulitzer prize winners, and Nobel Prize winners are all elite in that they are the best in their field. By definition two the Rockerfellers, the Kennedys, and the Vanderbilts are elite due to thei... More About: Defense , Elite
Clinton a Little Confused?
2008-05-06 06:21:00 Because when one week Hillary Clinton is talking about a gas tax holiday and the next week she's talking about suing OPEC at the WTO for being a monopoly..."We?re going to go right at OPEC," she said. "They can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world, they decide how much oil they?re going to produce and what price they?re going to put it at," she told a crowd at a firehouse in Merrillville, IN. "That?s not a market. That?s a monopoly," she said, saying she'd use anti-trust law and the World Trade Organization to take on OPEC.She's either confused, misinformed, or pandering. After all Russia has the second largest oil reserves of any nation in the world, Venezuela's oil reserves aren't anything to sneeze at, and America produces a considerable amount of oil in its own right. Given those facts how can OPEC have a monopoly? I'm willing to bet that if she pursued such a course of acti...
Portents and Omens
2008-05-04 18:52:00 Earlier this week:Speaking at her Louisville, KY campaign headquarters, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., told a crowd of supporters Thursday that she is pulling for the filly, Eight Bells, for the upcoming Kentucky Derby. In selecting Eight Bells, Clinton picked the only girl horse in the race. Perhaps the most fitting move for the woman vying to bethe nation's first woman elected president.Eight Bells finished the race second and had to be put down. Hopefully Hillary Clinton can escape the latter fate should the former occur.H/T to OTB More About: Omens
TGIF
2008-05-02 15:49:00 And now a man that has turned his questionable tastes into a career:Richard Cheese
Pimp Out Your Blog Here
2008-05-02 15:18:00 and help fight hunger.The rising cost of gas has become a real burden on the working poor causing many to turn to food banks to make up the difference. The increased demand is causing food banks to go bankrupt. My local foodbank here in San Antonio has asked my workplace to do a beans only food drive in order to be able to provide as much healthy food as possible.So it occurred to me that since dried beans are cheap, I have a blog, and bloggers love to see their Technorati ranking go up that I might be able to help out a few more families by trying to harness the power of blogtopia.So for the month of May I am hosting a blogger food drive.Here is the deal:1: You hit the paypal donation widget and contribute 1$2: I take that money and buy beans and then donate them.3: I link back to your blog or website in a weekly update post. (leave your site's name and address in the paypal comments field or email me the details at dyre42atgmail.com)4: I create a blogroll consiting of all donors... More About: Pimp , Blog
When Marriage Mirrors Politics
2008-05-01 08:01:00 My tiny wife and I finally sat down to discuss the brass tacks of merging our finances tonight. She had a simple plan in which my money was deposited into a joint account and she took what was needed from the household and moved it to her account to pay all of our bills with. Now I trust her implicitly. But I couldn't help raise the point that there was no fairness or accountability in her system. Under her system she could be skimming money to buy designer platform shoes that she only wore at work and I'd be none the wiser. (If find that using amusing hypotheticals in really serious discussions helps to keep the tension levels lower.)So we hammered out a system that promoted both fairness and accountability. My pay gets deposited into the joint account, she takes out a fixed amount to pay our bills with, I have a set amount of spending money per week, and everything left over gets deposited to a joint savings account. Additionally any extra expenses accrued by me that exceed my w... More About: Politics , Marriage , Mirrors
Of Note
2008-04-30 16:59:00 I've been listed on The Best of the Web's blog directory for free under the category "Moderate"! It may not be an award but its the next best thing and it puts me in good company. More About: Note
Fighting Back (Gas Prices Edition)
More articles from this author:2008-04-30 07:32:00 Well we did it. We went out and bought a brand new car. After hours of research half a dozen test drives and two weekends spent shopping for cars we finally bought a 2008 Nissan Versa hatchback for me to drive.We weren't planning on buying a new car quite this soon but my 1998 Ford Taurus' transmission started slipping (only if you gunned it) and rather than spend 700 to 1000$ repairing it when it finally crapped out we opted to trade it in for 700$ (fair market value IMO). We got a good rate of 4.9% due to my wife's superior credit score and monthly payment of 305$ for a 17,000$ car (including extended warranty).We picked it primarily because it was the most fuel efficient vehicle in its class getting 33 MPG on average (38 MPG possible driving 65, on a flat interstate, with one passenger of average weight, with cruise control on, and the car being well maintained.) was highly recommended by Consumer Reports, and had the most bells and whistles of any car in its class including ... More About: Gas Prices , Fighting , Back , Edition , Prices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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