We WIN!

That's it - it's effectively over. Obama wins BIG in North Carolina, and holds it to a 2 point victory for Clinton in Indiana. To understand why this effectively seals the deal for Obama, we need to understand the backdrop.

For the last 6 weeks, Obama has been off message as he's been attacked by Clinton with a series of basically Republican talking points. The most effective of these was the Reverend Wright. This is Obama's pastor, and a long time friend. His Race speech in Philadelphia (which I posted here previously) was an attempt to address that. It was, by any objective measure, a fine speech, and went a long way to putting critics voices to rest. But, then up pops Wright again on a promotional tour, saying more stuff and giving the critics more ammunition (and remember here, the point is not whether what he said was right, in fact it largely was, but whether it could be used by the other side, which it surely could). Obama was justifiably angry, because (he said) he profoundly disagreed with the remarks, but in fact one could also infer that he felt betrayed by someone who would have known the trouble it would cause, and went ahead anyway. So, he gave another speech in which he roundly denounced Wright this time, with no room for conciliation or disagreement on what he meant.

The denouncement did the trick, and for the last 10 days or so this speech, allied with Clinton's push for a 'gas tax holiday' for the summer, which would save the average driver just $30, seems to have allowed Obama to get back on message. People recognized the gas tax holiday for what it was - political pandering, and Obama played on this, pointing out that it was precisely the 'politics as usual' that he was here to change.

On to last night, where poll averages were showing Obama ahead in North Carolina by 5 or 6 points, and Clinton ahead in Indiana by the same amount. Instead, Obama blew the lid off North Carolina, bringing in a 14 point victory, and holding Clinton to a 2 point (or less!) spread in Indiana - hardly convincing for Clinton, who really needed to win convincingly in Indiana and at least beat expectations in North Carolina, to continue her 'this is still a close race' narrative.

Even the myopic Main Stream Media (MSM) saw the writing on the wall, and this morning the expectation is that, although she may continue the race, the contest is (barring a completely unforseen event) effectively over.

Hillary's speech last night was upbeat, of course, but slightly less aggressive than we have seen, and slightly more conciliatory. For his part, Obamas speech was classic oratory, at once both conciliatory to the Democratic base, and also assertively laying out why he is running for President - a wake up call McCain that the game is ON!

Ron Paul for Obama?

Yeah, that's right, you heard it correctly - Ron Paul supports Obama. He fell short of endorsing him, but it's interesting to hear him say what I've long thought and argued - that, notwithstanding the massive policy differences between Obama and Paul, they are in fact closer than you would imagine if you just look at the traditional left/right divide. Obama is a former constitutional professor, and Paul is interested in defending the constitution from the BushCo crooks and others. Since McCain is advocating four more years of the same thing, with no accountability for the crimes and systematic deconstruction of the constitution over the last 7 years, why would Paul support McCain?

Anyways, whoever Paul officially endorses eventually (if anyone), it's interesting to see this, and confirms my Mom's argument that he is not, in fact, one of the criminals involved. For me, it increases my respect of the man, and confirms my argument (shouted loudly last night to a confused Republican) that if you love America, the Constitution, and the Republican party, you should be voting for Obama - if he restores the rule of law and the Constitution over the next 4 years, well good for him, and if he doesn't, then the revitalized and 'cleaned up' Republican party can take a crack at it in 2012!

Here is the link to CNN

May the Force be with Him!

This tickled me. Maaaaaan there's people with WAY too much time on their hands :-) Actually, it's pretty cool, and if you're going to mess around with video and have fun in the age of YouTube, why not hit the 'Dark Side' where it hurts! Enjoy!

Henry Root

My Mum just reminded me about Henry Root, man was he FUNNY! This was actually an author, William Donaldson, had a wild and crazy life, became most famous for his letters to various prominent people, all in charcater as 'Henry Root' and ex-fishmonger and prominent Right Wing nutcase. He'd send people 5 pounds for their 'cause', completely missing the point of it all, and incidentally threatening to turn up on their doorsteps at specific times and places, to the panicked replies from the subject.

Anyways, very funny stuff, I'll try and find some examples...

UPDATE - died in 2005. Here's the obit in the Guardian...

I'm 36!!!!

Yay! According to this little gizmo, I'm 36 (in gonzo years, 45 actually), and I'm going to live until 83!!! Hoorah! Kind of cool little thing, it asks you all sorts of questions and calculates your 'real' age and life expectancy. Right on! I knew that 45 was the new 35!!!

http://www.embedtube.com/uploads/33101407Realage.swf

Heffalump Alert!

My Mum sent me this! Very cool! It's an Elephant that can paint! Apparently they are sentient creatures, sociable and so on... Makes you think, really, about the way they are hunted. They seem to be such gentle creatures...

Cut and Paste...

This made me chuckle. I've been trying to get Mum to start her own Blog, and I have to say she's actually pretty good now at the whole computer thing, so I think she can do it. But once in a while, she'll send me something that makes me realize that very basic stuff, that I think is something that 'everyone' knows, is not always common knowledge - and of course, why would it be? We're not born with a computer attached to us!! :-) Anyways, here's the passage that made me chuckle, when Mum was talking about how she answers my emails...

Even with a simple web address - I have to get my little notebook, very carefully and accurately copy the entire address out in pencil, then I go back to the email I'm sending you, and then carefully type it all in again. I suspect that if I highlight the address, then do something else (?) it should show up in the email... but how???

Yes folks, that's right - she's talking about cut and paste :-)