9:52am

They say it's going to snow 1-3 inches tomorrow, I can only imagine the hell that is going to be driving to work. Also, Greg isn't here yet. Maybe he quit. I've heard rumors that our temp coordinator hates working here and might resign. But we did get a direct boss at the manager level as opposed to bossman who is at the director level, and really doesn't know what's going on with us. So hopefully midbossman will be able to provide some much needed leadership for us.

10:01am

Good grief, would it be so hard to change 2 lines of the gift card people's training? Orders under $5000 should go to the website, don't try and bring them over here, and just drop them with me. Because all I'm going to do is direct them to the website.

10:14am

I've seen it again, first at the New Republic, now at MyDD, good reasons why Mr. Obama should run in '08. I'll summarize:

1) By 2008, he'll have a longer political resume than John Edwards

2) for a total of 12 years in elected office

3) He's been improving his national security credentials

4) and spearheading the avian flu response

5) If he doesn't run this year, he'd have to wait until '12 to challenge an incumbent, or wait until '16 to have another go at it, this means 8 more years in the Senate. Eight more years of votes on the floor that the Republicans can twist until Mr. Obama looks like a flip flopper.

I have my reservations about Mr. Obama running, but he may not get another chance. I think that I still support Hillary, but I don't think that she can reach out to independents and repubs. On top of that, she is a huge lightning rod, people love her or hate her, she might drive the GOTV on the repub side, not just to vote for their people, but to simply vote against her. Given these problems, I'm not convinced that any other democrat primary candidate can beat her in the primary...except Mr. Obama, the subject of many a facebook group (see: Barak Obama 08... the only silver lining). Mr. Obama is a powerfully persuasive speaker, engaging, likeable ... everything Hillary is not? He is adored by legions of young dems and I think he can reach out to moderates and independents while maintaining credibility with his own party. I'm not casting my vote for Mr. Obama just yet... but look for him to run, and if he doesn't, maybe he should.

Good Lord this man is moving, selections from his keynote speech at the DNC:

And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter, a common dream, born of two continents. My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or "blessed," believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren't rich, because in a generous America you don't have to be rich to achieve your potential. They are both passed away now. Yet, I know that, on this night, they look down on me with pride.

I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible. Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago, "We hold these truths to he self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

That is the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams of its people, the insistence on small miracles. That we can tuck in our children at night and know they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe or hiring somebody's son. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will he counted - or at least, most of the time.

Don't get me wrong. The people I meet in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks, they don't expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or the Pentagon. Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice.

A while back, I met a young man named Shamus at the VFW Hall in East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid, six-two or six-three, clear-eyed, with an easy smile. He told me he'd joined the Marines and was heading to Iraq (news - web sites) the following week. As I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, his absolute faith in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service, I thought this young man was all any of us might hope for in a child. But then I asked myself: Are we serving Shamus as well as he was serving us? I thought of more than 900 service men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors, who will not be returning to their hometowns. I thought of families I had met who were struggling to get by without a loved one's full income, or whose loved ones had returned with a limb missing or with nerves shattered, but who still lacked long-term health benefits because they were reservists. When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief - I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper - that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.

Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards (news - web sites) calls on us to hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism here - the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!

In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us. America!

Tonight, if you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I do, the same passion I do, the same hopefulness I do - if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president, and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.

Thank you and God bless you.

(emphasis mine)

Never have I been so repeatedly, choked up, and moved to tears.

11:28am

I swear I just heard a jazz version of TLC's "Waterfalls" while on hold.

11:39am

She actually just said to me "Buh bye," in that voice, you know the voice "buh bye." And she called me hon. bleh!

11:45am

So after the article in The New Republic, the blogosphere is ablaze with talk of Mr. Obama. There does seem to be somewhat of a consensus, that he cannot beat Hillary in the primary and that he should run in '12. Personally, I think that is being both optimist and pessimistic, if he ran in '12, that would have to mean that we lost in '08. I'm not ready to concede the '08 election, no matter how weak Hillary is. a) she's not our candidate yet, b) the gop doesn't really have anyone better.

12:27pm

From Shira's facebook profile:

"I just learned that potential employers check the facebook to get dirt on candidates. Thus, i am deleting any incriminating evidence."

Scary.

12:48pm

Today Bushie addressed a conservative crowd and talked about our 'amazing success' in Iraq. What?!? Is this guy on a completely different plane of reality? He goes on to cite Lieberman (a democrat in name only, at this point), "what a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will,' and, in a famous phrase, 'to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory." What? what?!? WHAT?!? what victory, what defeat, realizing that you cannot accomplish the impossible and arbitrary goals that you set forth in the run up to the war, is not defeat, it is pragmatism. Further he emphasizes the reconstruction efforts, turning on the power, getting the water and sewage systems going....why are these broken you might ask. Oh right because WE BOMBED THEM INTO THE STONE AGE. So, yeah, the now have democracy, and can vote, but many Iraqis are jobless, and don't have power and don't have water, and schools are bombed out and the violence is increasing. So thanks a lot Bushie, thanks alot.

1:35pm

Coca Cola Blak - Coke is releasing a new coke product with coffee extracts -> as if coke needed any more caffeine. No word on what it tastes like, but as mentioned in yesterday's post, the taste of coffee is not pleasant.

2:41pm

This is fun- The National Debt Clock

2:44pm

Ok, so Rep Murtha respondes to Bushies idiotic speech about how the war is going so well in Iraq.

Murtha: Twenty years it's going to take to settle this thing. The American people is not going to put up with it; can't afford it. We have spent $277 billion. That's what's been appropriated for this operation. We have $50 billion sitting on the table right now in our supplemental, or bridge fund we call it, in the Appropriations Committee. They're going to ask for another $100 billion next year.

QUESTION: Can we come back to the $100 billion? You said that you expect the military to ask for $100 billion. Where are you getting that figure?

MURTHA: Where I get all my figures: the military.

Ahh, I like this guy, and he should know stuff about the military having been in it for 30+ years and being the ranking member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Yeah....he's a dem with credibility. Speaking of cred, here's what he said in response to lieberman:

Lieberman yesterday: "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril."

Murtha today: "Undermining his credibility? What has he said that would give him credibility?"

HAHAHAH

3:48pm

Um...I just checked the site stats. Yeah .... apparently at 10:13am, the US Senate Sergeant at Arms ran across my blog .... he used technorati and searched obama .... this is sortof creepy....

4:14pm

And with a cool little tool called WHOIS(compliments of Katie), I've found out his address. Maybe I should call and ask why he was checking out my site?

4:19pm

His name is William H. Pickle. here's a pic I wonder if they've started a file on me... I wonder if he googles his own name. I wonder if they technorati all the senator's names. Do you think they do it every day?

4:30pm

In other (unrelated?) news. Roko has a blog, you can find it here. Looks good.

4:33pm

More on the government spying on me. As of 4:33, Technorati had in excess of 18,000 hits on the search phrase "obama." I cannot go back and see how many there would have been this morning. As I mentioned, the New Republic Article sorof exploded everywhere late this morning, so the hits for obama in the blogosphere are way up. But say there was only 1000, this morning at 10:13, do you think that they sat and went through all of them? Just what were they looking for?