Two Vermont towns, Brattleboro and Marlboro have voted to instruct their police to arrest President Bush and Vice President Cheney for “crimes against the constitution.”

I’d like to see how they get through the Secret Service to do it and wish the president and vice-president would go there just to make a scene, but they’d probably be assassinated by one of those nuts.

I propose we take all the sane people in Vermont and move them close to New Hampshire, Massachusetts or New York (not much better, but what the hay?)and then let the rest of the people live in the other part of Vermont and become their own country or a part of Canada. Marlboro will have to relocate.

We won’t need to upset the lives of too many sane people because there aren’t that many in comparison to the nuts there.

By now everyone knows Florida and Michigan broke the Democratic Party’s rules when they held their primaries before the approved dates.

In each case Hillary Clinton won, but Barack Obama and the other candidates were not on the Michigan ballot and Clinton is the only one to break the pledge not to campaign in Florida.

Now the states face being disenfranchised at the convention because they broke party rules.

The states and the parties are trying to find an acceptable solution at this time, but it seems the caucus system favors Obama and the primary system favors Clinton, so what’s the answer?

The other day I had read that Gov. Crist of Florida had said the state would be willing to pay the expenses for a do-over, but now he says no after talking to the senior senator from Florida, Democrat Bill Nelson.

In my opinion, that’s a no-brainer anyway since the state already paid for one primary.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Officials in Michigan and Florida are showing renewed interest in holding repeat presidential nominating contests so that their votes will count in the epic Democratic campaign.
The Michigan governor, along with top officials in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign and Florida’s state party chair, are now saying they would consider holding a sort of do-over contest by June. That’s a change from their previous insistence that the primaries their states held in January should determine how the their delegates are allocated.

Clinton won both contests, but the results were meaningless because the elections violated national party rules.

The Democratic National Committee stripped both states of all their delegates for holding the primaries too early, and all Democratic candidates—including Clinton and rival Barack Obama—agreed not to campaign in either state. Obama’s name wasn’t even on the Michigan ballot.

Florida and Michigan moved up their dates to protest the party’s decision to allow Iowa and New Hampshire to go first, followed by South Carolina and Nevada, giving them a disproportionate influence on the presidential selection process.

But no one predicted the race would still be very close this late in the year.

Ironically, Michigan and Florida could have held crucial primaries if they had stayed with their traditional later dates. They may yet do so if they decide to hold new contests as Clinton and Obama compete to the wire.

Clinton has been insisting that the desires of more than 2 million people who cast Democratic ballots in the two states should be reflected at the convention, which would help her catch up to Obama in the race for convention delegates. Obama has said he wants to see the delegates from the two critical swing states participate, too, but not if Clinton is rewarded for victories in boycotted primaries.

Now the Clinton campaign has begun expressing openness to a do-over. “Let’s let all of the voters go again if they are willing to do it,” Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday night on MSNBC. “Whatever we have to do to get people in the system, let’s do it.”

The new contests could be part of a strategy for Clinton to come back in the race and attract votes from superdelegates who are not bound by any primary or caucus votes, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told the network. “Let’s assume for the moment Hillary Clinton wins Ohio and Texas, she wins Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan have primaries in June, she wins both of those,” said Rendell, who has endorsed Clinton. “Then, can the superdelegates look at that and say, `Gosh, she’s won the last five big primaries in a row. She’s won almost every big primary since we began.’”

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Clinton supporter, told the Detroit Free Press that Clinton’s victory in Ohio changes “the landscape a bit.” She said it could open the door to a caucus, if it can be privately funded and both candidates agree.

The party doesn’t want to part with any money now because they need to save it for the general election. If the states can’t manage to get the funding privately or partially privately and partially publicly how will they have a do-over?

And is Hillary Clinton going to be open to a caucus system that has betrayed her all year long? Besides, the caucus system disenfranches anyone who is out of the state on the date of the caucus. How fair is that? Will the people be excited enough to go through this all again after the mess they’ve seen and the obvious anger they’ve experienced?

Michigan Democrats are discussing holding a “firehouse” contest in May or June that would be an alternative to a traditional primary or caucus and run by the state party, said a Democratic Party official who has been part of the discussions. “Firehouse” contests usually have fewer polling places and shorter voting hours than traditional state-run primary elections.

The party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private, said there was general consensus that it could not be held at taxpayers’ expense and would attempt to generate participation from about 1 million state Democrats.

House and Senate Democrats from Florida and Michigan planned to meet Wednesday night on Capitol Hill to discuss ways of getting their state’s delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August, Democratic aides said.

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said the party is open to another vote, as long as it meets three criteria. Both candidates would have to fully participate, a source of funding would have to be provided and it would have to allow all the state’s Democrats to participate, including those serving in the military overseas. So far, she said, no suggested alternative has met those requirements.

Barack, you’d better be careful, because if Hillary is for an arrangement there must be something sneaky going on.

Split the baby. Assign half the delegates from each state to each of the two remaining candidates and let the superdelegates decide which side they’re on. It’s cheaper and makes more sense.

Updated This later information from The Hill:

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) warned the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday that it is facing the “biggest train wreck you’ve ever seen” if a standoff is not resolved over his state’s pledged delegates to the party’s presidential nominating convention.

Nelson sent a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean Thursday asking the committee to either accept the Jan. 29 results of the primary election or pay for a redo of the elections, which could cost in the range of $20 million. He sent the letter after Dean did not return his telephone call Wednesday.

“If they go to the Democratic Convention and stiff-arm the Florida delegations, how in the world do you think Floridians are going to support the Democratic nominee on Nov. 4?” Nelson told reporters Thursday. “It’s in everybody’s interest to find a solution to this problem.”

However, earlier in the day, Dean said the party would not pay for any do-over.

“We can’t afford to do that,” Dean stated on CBS’s “Early Show.” “That’s not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race.”

It looks like a mess. Nelson has a point. What incentive will the Democrats of Michigan or Florida have if their delegates are not seated and a part of the convention?

Voters in several states have spoken and congratulations are in order to Senator McCain on his securing the GOP nomination last evening.

Governor Huckabee should also be applauded for his gracious concession speech and offers of assistance to the Republican Party going forward.

What next? Who knows, but I hope this foolishness which has gone on with many of the political pundits on the right ends and they realize that it is not their place to encourage people to tinker with the Democratic nomination. This is not some kids game we are playing here. It is a Presidential election.

When I read of someone registered in the Republican party write that they held their nose and voted for either Senator Clinton or Obama just to drive the numbers one way or another it reminds me of all I have grown to dislike about politics in this country.

Sure, a brokered Democratic convention would be a great thing for the GOP if in fact it were bloody and neither candidate could win without the influence of the superdelegates. But here is the sixty-four dollar question…who among us knows what deals have been or will be made in the near future which would pit the GOP against a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket?

Even factoring out the crossover vote in most of the states where it is permitted, the numbers are staggering for both of these candidates. Link them together…and well I think the picture is pretty clear.

There was a very interesting question posed last evening by one of the talking heads on Fox. If you are a Republican crossing over to vote for Clinton or Obama in an attempt to skew the numbers in the Democratic Primary (but would never consider casting your ballot in that fashion in the general election) and your vote assisted that candidate in securing the party nomination and eventually winning the Presidency, how would you feel then? I wonder.

If as a Republican you find you cannot support Senator McCain, that is fine, but please can we stop all this nonsense (and gloating in many corners) about how some look forward to negatively influencing the Democratic primaries.

Vote Democrat if you wish but do it for the right reasons, because it is a candidate you believe in. If not, that old saying of be careful what you ask for just might rear its ugly head.

* Update: That didn’t take long. Speaking this morning, here’s Senator Clinton:

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hinted at the possibility of a democratic “dream ticket” with Sen. Barack Obama.

Speaking on the Early Show on CBS, Clinton said “that may be where this is headed, but we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket.”

Update 2: Senator Obama when questioned about the dream ticket scenario:

“We are just focused on winning the nomination. That is my focus. I respect Sen. Clinton. She has been a tenacious opponent. It is premature to talk about a joint ticket.”

Premature? How do you interpret that?

If it were me up against the Clinton machine, I would make it clear to the party elites that I would accept nothing short of the nomination for President if entering the convention with a majority of delegates.

I hope I am wrong here, and I will be happy to admit it if I am, but it is beginning to look as though the fix might be in place to avoid a devisive convention.

Should you hear anyone question John McCain’s courage, leadership qualities, or his patriotism, please just point them to the following video.

While it may take a bit longer than most to watch, some of the footage used within (original from Vietnam) plus the recent personal interviews give great insight into a man who aspires to be the next President of the United States.

The results for all four primary States voting today may be viewed here this evening.

I think it’s going to be a long, interesting night and perhaps with the caucus situation in Texas it might be tomorrow before we know all the results.

The closing time for the polls in each individual state are as follows:

**Polls close at 7 pm ET in Vermont, with Ohio polls closing at 7:30 pm ET, and Texas and Rhode Island wrapping up voting at 9 pm ET. (The Texas caucuses start 15 minutes after polls close for primaries.)

Can you believe this crap?

We’ve heard a lot about global warming and the arguments for and against. The current head of the Weather Channel stated anyone who didn’t believe in global warming should be fired.

Here’s the founder of the Weather Channel, John Coleman, telling what he thinks should happen to those who are making a profit from selling carbon credits.

The woman pictured below was featured in this article at American Thinker.

I had never heard of Jeannette Rankin, but after reading both the above linked piece and following it up with additional research here, it became apparent that I would have enjoyed watching her in action:

How many feminists know that Montana’s groundbreaker, born in 1880, trimmed her own hats, but was still gutsy enough to — I quote — tramp “through deep snow potting bears and wolves for pastime”? [i] (Loud claps and laugher.)

How many journalists are aware that Miss Rankin, a seamstress, made her own clothes, cooked excellent meals, and “endured all the hardships of pioneers” with her sisters in Montana’s wilderness? [ii]

Yes, the world has changed since Ms. Rankin’s time but I’ll take someone who, as is pointed out by Ben-Peter Terpstra,

even “after entering politics” Miss Rankin “refused to forsake the old household arts, cooking and needlework.” [iv]

On second thought, rather than admiring her from afar, this is a figure in history I would have loved to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea with. Don’t know of course, but she sure reads like a genuine woman.

There has been a lot of criticism of Senator Obama and his campaign for their supposed two faced talk on Nafta….saying one thing at the last debate, another when speaking to Canadian Officials.

I have learned to hold my powder on such stories recognizing that the Senator’s opponent(s) have connections worldwide (and the desire to win at all cost). Personally I prefer to wait and see if another shoe drops before jumping into the fray.

Seems it has dropped, but has it cost Obama votes in Texas and Ohio in the meantime..probably:

OTTAWA(Reuters) - Canada defended Democratic front-runner Barack Obama Monday over accusations from rival Hillary Clinton that he is secretly at ease with a hemispheric trade accord which he publicly blames for losing U.S. jobs.

Clinton’s criticism, on the eve of make-or-break presidential nomination contests for her in Ohio and Texas, stemmed from a report by Canadian television station CTV that an Obama economic adviser told Canadian officials the candidate was not seriously considering disrupting the trade accord.

But the Canadian Embassy in Washington released a statement essentially backing up the Obama camp’s version of the meeting between adviser Austan Goolsbee and officials at the Canadian consulate in Chicago.

“There was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA,” the embassy statement said. “We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect.”

Quite interesting, don’t you think?

Actions like these will go a long way towards teaching children to share and respect each other:

A child’s birthday party at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Massachusetts was cut short when a fight broke out between two mothers.

The mother of the 9-year-old birthday boy apparently became enraged because the other woman’s son was “hogging” an arcade game, Natick, Mass., police said.

Ridiculous.

I’m sure those of you living in states hosting primaries today will be pleased when the day is done and your state returns to some sense of normalcy. I’ll try to get the links up later for those who choose to follow the returns as they come in this evening.

Being hit in the butt with a few pieces of raw rice does not compare to being in captivity in a cage for 5 1/2 years. Yes, I’m comparing John Kerry to John McCain because the old dog Gloria Steinhem from the ERA days has brought up the service of John McCain.

Steinem raised McCain’s Vietnam imprisonment as she sought to highlight an alleged gender-based media bias against Clinton.

“Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years. [The media would ask], ‘What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?’” Steinem said, to laughter from the audience.

McCain was, in fact, a prisoner of war for around five-and-a-half years, during which time he was tortured repeatedly. Referring to his time in captivity, Steinem said with bewilderment, “I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so.”

Steinem’s broader argument was that the media and the political world are too admiring of militarism in all its guises.

“I am so grateful that she [Clinton] hasn’t been trained to kill anybody. And she probably didn’t even play war games as a kid. It’s a great relief from Bush in his jump suit and from Kerry saluting.”

Yeah, John, how come you got shot down? Weren’t you wearing your magic hat? Oh, sorry, wrong John. I’m sure you got shot down on purpose just so you could get your bones crushed among other things.

At least she disapproves of Kerry’s salute.

She compares being the wife to a president to being his secretary and learning the job that way:

Steinem also told the crowd that one reason to back Clinton was because “she actually enjoys conflict.”

And she claimed that if Clinton’s experience as First Lady were taken seriously in relation to her White House bid, people might “finally admit that, say, being a secretary is the best way to learn your boss’s job and take it over.”

Hmmm. She’s not a fighter but she enjoys conflict. Does anyone else see the irony here?

If Hillary had been Bill’s secretary there wouldn’t have been a blue dress, now would there? And Bill wouldn’t have been found guilty of perjury. And it wasn’t about sex—it was about lying to a grand jury.

Quoting Mark Noonan at Blogs for Victory after telling us Wes Clark’s opinion of Hillary being Commander in Chief:

So, wandering around the world in the plush accomodations of the First Lady is better experience for CinC than 23 combat missions; showing extreme courage under the harshest of conditions for years; the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross; being commander of a squadron; working with Congress to fund new supercarriers and retiring as a Naval captain? Wes, if you say so, I guess it must be true…

Beats the heck out of getting a purple heart for having a grain of rice hit your butt.

Michael Yon clearly thinks not:

The ‘journalists’ who broke the story got their scoop, and in doing so, needlessly endangered the lives of patriotic soldiers. There was no compelling reason to report on Harry’s service in Afghanistan. No public good was served. Shame on those who risked British lives.

This need to know mentality which we have developed is not only ridiculous, it is terribly dangerous.

Instead of Prince Harry arriving home with his unit to the adulation of British citizens, he returns with the knowledge that his revealed deployment and unit leaves others in increased danger.

I honestly don’t know how some of these journalists look at themselves in the mirror every day.

Because Drudge posted this story and put Prince Harry’s life in danger we are joining Venomous Kate and many other bloggers who are boycotting Drudge. Special hat tip to Inside Charm City.

Join the movement: Drop Drudge.

Since national security is second only to the economy in the Texas Democratic primary race, Hillary Clinton put out this commercial:

I’m sure she’s not dressed at 3 am, but nevertheless, who do you want answering the White House phone in an emergency? An overly-eager person who wants power or an untried and untested empty suit? I may not have picked him for the first choice, but I’ll go with the Navy guy who spent five hard years in the Hanoi Hilton.

In the past few days there have been many, many wonderful pieces written on the passing of William F. Buckley Jr.

I particularly enjoyed this piece at American Thinker:

The two conservative icons were, then, whole men. God, family, the brotherhood of man, the joy of living — all of these values together made Buckley and Reagan the giants that they were in American life. Because they were naturally whole men, they were also utterly sincere. Neither man was much interested in finesse. What they believed in did not require finesse.

This absence of finesse was the key to their eloquence. Buckley, of course, was a writer of incomparable skill. But Buckley the debater, the commentator, the orator was just as great. Reagan the speaker was as powerful with his voice as Buckley with his pen, but Reagan is a grossly underestimated writer. The secret of his power, as with Buckley, that he spoke as a clear, strong, informed conscience.

There are those we encounter in this life (whether personally or just from afar) who leave a lasting impression which never seems to fade. Mr. Buckley was such a man.