A Great Night For Obama !

After Clinton's win in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago, it looked to some like her campaign might have a chance. If you tossed in the vote in Michigan and Florida, you could make the case that although Obama was leading in delegates, Clinton was leading in popular vote. She was hoping to couple that with a big win in Indiana and a close vote in North Carolina to convince superdelegates that she was more electable.

But last night ended that hope, and may have effectively ended the campaign for Clinton. Obama scored a huge win in North Carolina. He scored a 14 point victory and extended his delegate lead. He will get at least 13 more delegates from that state than Clinton will get.

At the same time, Clinton was unable to score a big victory in Indiana. As I write this, there is only a 16,000 vote lead for Clinton out of more than a million votes cast. There are still votes to be counted, and it now looks like whoever wins will do so by less than 5,000 votes. No matter who wins, Indiana has to be considered a draw, especially in delegates (which is the only thing that really matters).

Clinton gave her "all the way to the convention" speech last night, but this has to be considered a crushing defeat for her. In fact, she has cancelled her morning appearances on the network news shows. She will be meeting with her superdelegates today.

Obama now has at least 1818 delegates to Clinton's 1669 according to CNN. That gives him a lead of around 149 delegates. He only needs 207 more delegates to reach the magic number of 2025.

For all intents and purposes, this race is now over.

UPDATE - For what it's worth, MSNBC has declared Clinton the winner in Indiana.

Noriega Closing The Gap On Cornyn

I have to admit, this took me a bit by surprise. I've believed for several months that Democrats have an excellent campaigner and a great candidate in Rick Noriega, but the real campaign hasn't even started yet. Traditionally, campaigns don't kick into high gear until after the state convention.

Noriega hasn't even been able to run any commercials, and doesn't have anywhere near the money or name-recognition of his incumbent opponent. Additionally, with the presidential nominating race sucking up all the media attention, the senate race has not received much coverage. But even with all these things working against him, Noriega has been able to pull to within a few points of Cornyn.

According to the latest Rasmussen poll on the Texas senate race, Noriega is now only four points behind. The poll gives Cornyn 47% and Noriega 43%. Those are incredibly good numbers for Noriega at this point in the campaign!

This should worry the hell out of Cornyn. At this point, before the serious campaigning has really started, it doesn't look good for an incumbent to be polling less than 50%.

I think there are two things at work here. First, Cornyn is not a really popular senator and has not distinguished himself with the poor job he has done. Second, the public is really disappointed in the terrible job the Republicans have done for the last few years.

Even in a state as red as Texas, it looks like people are ready to give Democrats serious consideration. If Democrats can get all the people who voted in their primary back to the polls in November, Rick Noriega will be the next senator from Texas.

But it won't be easy. Cornyn has a lot of money, and he'll be willing to spend it to keep his job. This would be a great time to help Noriega out financially. Even if you can only give $10 or $20 dollars, please do it. Every dollar matters.

Rick can win this thing with a little help from us!

Can The Police Investigate Themselves ?

The Los Angeles Police Department has just released some rather disturbing statistics. It seems that they had 320 accusations of racial profiling lodged against them in 2007. After investigating these charges, they found that not a single one of them was true. 252 of the cases were dismissed as unfounded. The others were dismissed because of "insufficient evidence".

It's amazing enough that not a single one of the charges was found justified, but it reaches the level of incredible when you consider that 2007 was the sixth year in a row that not a single case was to be found justified. Considering the past reputation of the LAPD, is it even remotely possible that the findings are correct?

The truth is that there are bad apples in even the best department. It is just the nature of the job, and the impossibility of weeding out all "bad apples" in the hiring process.

The LAPD, like all organizations that deal with people from a position of power, needs to have an outside investigative agency dealing with departmental accusations. The lesson to be learned here is that no organization does a decent job of investigating itself.

No department is perfect, no matter what the statistics say.

No Victory In Iraq - Just Death

With the economy getting worse and the presidential race heating up, it is easier these days to just not think about Iraq. After all, it is not uncommon to watch an hour-long "news" show and never even hear the Iraq War mentioned. The "journalists" are too busy talking about Reverend Wright, political elitism, phony gas tax relief, dodging snipers in Bosnia, and other meaningless stories.

With the media virtually ignoring Iraq, it might be easy to believe Bush, Cheney and McCain as they tell us that things are getting better in Iraq -- that the surge has worked, and now victory is within our reach there. Except, for those willing to look at Iraq, that is just not true. Nothing has been accomplished there, and the killing is still going on.

Since January 1st, another 160 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. This brings the total number of American soldiers killed to 4,071. Also, in the last four months, over a thousand American soldiers have been wounded -- 1,098 to be exact.

Even though the media doesn't seem to want to report it anymore, our soldiers are in an impossible situation in Iraq, and more die and are wounded every day. We must not forget that our brave soldiers are in harm's way.

There is no victory in Iraq -- only more and more death every day.

Houston Banks To Go After The Poor

On the surface, this sounds like it might be a good program, but I have my doubts. Yesterday, about 65 bankers met with Houston city officials. The reason for the meeting was to figure out how to bring the poor into mainstream financial programs. The idea is to reach out to poorer families "who rely on check cashers and pawnshops for their financial transactions".

According to a recent survey of five minority neighborhoods in Houston, it was learned that as many as 51% of the households did not use a regular bank. The participating banks would create something called a "Houston account" that would have no minimum balance requirement and would accept alternative identification such as consular cards.

Cliff Johnson of the National League of Cities pointed to the high fees charged by the check cashers and payday loan givers. He said, "We have to pay...attention to how families hold on to their assets, so their hard-earned dollars don't just go back out the door."

That all sounds good, but I guess I'm just a cynic. I have a hard time believing the banks are suddenly going to go out and help poor people out of the goodness of their corporate hearts. It's far more likely that they looked at the big dollars the pawn shops, check cashers and payday lenders were making, and wanted in on the action. They had never realized all the money that could be made off the poor.

I have to ask, are the poor going to be offered low rates like the rich? Are they going to be offered overdraft protection? Are they going to be paid interest on their checking accounts? Probably not.

I think it far more likely these accounts will turn out to be like the credit cards offered to the poorer families, that charge higher rates and higher penalties. The banks are just starting to realize what the credit card companies already know -- the poor are easy targets for exorbitant profits.

I hope I'm wrong about all this, but I doubt it.

Government Was Right To Enter YFZ Ranch

I have been rather shocked to hear all of the complaints from both the right and the left about the government "raid" on the Yearning For Zion Ranch in West Texas. The government entered because they had received a complaint alleging child abuse at the ranch, and removed dozens of children and placed them in foster homes while the investigation continues.

The complainers would have us believe the government committed a great injustice by entering the ranch. In trying to build a case against the government's actions, they rely on one or both of the following arguments. First, the government had a faulty search warrant, and second, the government had singled the FLDS Church out and violated their religious freedom. Both arguments are specious.

The argument that the warrant was not legal, rests on the fact that the government had gotten the warrant based on an untrue or "prank" phone call. But the question does not rest on the truth of the phone call, but on whether the government believed it was true or not.

The only thing that would invalidate the warrant is government misconduct. There is no evidence of that. There was a believable call alleging child abuse. It is not misconduct for them to make a preliminary investigation to see if the allegation was true. Child abuse is a serious allegation and cannot be ignored. If they had such a call regarding a family, they would have to investigate it. They could do no less with the call regarding the church.

Once evidence of abuse was found (and it was found), then the government had no choice but to remove the children from the homes of the abusers while a more detailed investigation was begun. I don't think there's anything wrong with the warrant, but even if there was, what would the complainers have the government do? Are they to return the children to an environment where evidence of abuse has been found?

The second argument concerns whether the religious freedom of the FLDS Church has been violated. This argument is simply ridiculous. While all Americans have the right to worship as they wish in any religion they wish, they do not have the right to break the law and cover it up with a claim of religious belief.

No right is absolute. Even freedom of speech is restrained by not allowing libel, slander, or speech that results in immediate public harm (yelling "fire" in a crowded theater). Similarly, freedom of religion cannot be used as a cover for criminal activity. It is not legal to sexually abuse children -- even as a religious tenet of a church.

There has been evidence uncovered of a heinous crime being committed at the YFZ Ranch -- the continuing sexual abuse of children. The government did the right thing by acting to stop it.

For Democrats It's Obama Or Defeat

On Saturday, Barack Obama took another step closer to the Democratic nomination when he won a very close vote in the Guam caucuses. Obama received 2,264 votes and Clinton received 2,257 votes -- a slim 7 vote victory for Obama. That means the two candidates will split the 4 delegate votes from Guam (actually 8 delegates who each have 1/2 a vote).

If this had happened in January, we'd have to call it a draw. But this is May, and we're starting to run out of states and territories that haven't voted. With roughly a 140 delegate lead, that makes this a victory for Obama.

Obama doesn't really have to win any more states or territories. All he has to do is keep it close enough in each one to split the delegates. If he does that, he will finish with the lead in delegates, and should have the nomination.

If he finishes with a 100-150 delegate lead or more, it would be a serious mistake for the superdelegates to steal the nomination from him, and give it to Clinton. It would cause a split in the party -- perhaps for years to come. It is also the only way McCain can win.

I know there are many who say that no matter who wins, Democrats will pull together to defeat McCain. I don't believe it. Obama has brought many new young voters into the party, but why should they stay there if party officials can override their vote? Isn't that the same old insider politics they voted to change?

Even more important is the black vote. No group has voted more consistently Democratic than African-Americans, and I doubt if any Democratic nominee can win without their support. They have finally got an excellent candidate who won the majority of delegates fair and square.

For party officials to take the nomination from Obama and give it to a white woman would be a slap in the face to all African-American voters. It would be telling them that while they're good enough to vote for Democrats, they're not good enough to lead the party. How could Democrats expect them to vote for Clinton after that kind of insult?

Finally, there are a couple of million Naderites who are voting Democrat this year, and the huge majority of them are supporting Obama. Why would anyone expect them to abandon their consciences and vote for the corporate candidate? They are conscience voters -- not "lesser of two evil" voters. And they have shown in the past they are not afraid to leave a certain race blank or vote third party. They won't vote McCain, but that doesn't mean they have to vote for Clinton.

The past few elections have shown that the Democrats need all three of these groups to win. If they leave the presidential slot on the ballot blank or vote third party, then McCain will win. If they stay home, then lots of down-ballot Democrats will lose.

Even worse, they may not feel comfortable in the Democratic Party for many years to come.

Will Gas And Greed Ruin Fort Worth ?

It hasn't been too many years ago that the downtown area of Fort Worth was in trouble. Most people were doing their shopping in malls in other areas of town, and after dark, the downtown looked more like a ghost town than a thriving city. But city officials and developers got together to re-vitalize downtown. Sundance Square was developed, and gave a shot in the arm to the whole downtown.

With a re-modeled convention center at the south end of downtown, a plan for a community college at the north end of downtown along with the Trinity River Project, and Sundance Square between them, it looked like Fort Worth was finally turning the corner. The downtown area was once again attracting both shopping and entertainment dollars. It was becoming a fun place to go.

That's what makes this story so puzzling. Just as Fort Worth's downtown is becoming a viable, fun and increasingly beautiful place, it looks like the greed for gas dollars may ruin it all. Contracts have now been signed that will allow the drilling for natural gas under Sundance Square, and other downtown landowners are negotiating to do the same.

The wells would be located at the edges of downtown, with one of them just a few blocks from the Convention Center and Interstate 30. Another would be located near the new community college and Trinity River Project. Is this really the kind of thing they want visitors to Fort Worth to be greeted by -- the dirty and dangerous drilling sites?

The landowners say they were careful to pick the "cleanest" drilling company. That's a bit like picking the cleanest mudhole. All drilling sites are dirty and dangerous, and our Republican-dominated Texas Railroad Commission cannot be counted on to make the drillers obey the few laws that exist.

It was bad enough that contracts for drilling were being signed in residential districts all across Fort Worth. Now with the drillers going after downtown also, it looks like things are getting out of hand. It looks like greed is now more important than civic pride and responsibility.

Although my job has moved me to the Panhandle, I lived over 20 years in Tarrant County and grew to love Fort Worth. It is one of Texas' greatest cities.

I just hate to see them taking a giant step backwards after all they have accomplished.

Most Unpopular President In Modern History

It seems like the longer Bush stays in office, the more unpopular he becomes. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that he is now the most unpopular president in modern American history. The poll shows that 71% of the American people disapprove of the way Bush is doing his job.

The polls have been doing monthly presidential ratings since the Truman administraion, and this is the first time any presidet has ever had over 70% disapproval rating. The previous highs were 67% for Truman in January 1952, and 66% for Nixon in August 1974. The party out of power won the next election in both of those instances.

The same poll showed that most Americans are now opposed to the Uraq War. A full 68% of the people now oppose the war, while only 30% support it. Back in January, Bush had nearly half the population believing that things were improving in Iraq. But now, only 39% think things are going well there.

With Bush's popularity sinking lower, the only question seems to be whether he'll bust 75% disapproval before leaving office. I think he can do it.

Some Very Special Young People

Many of you have probably already heard about this, but I just could not let it pass without comment. These are the kind of young people we all hope we are raising or have raised.

It takes place during a college playoff softball game between Central Washington and Western Oregon. Western Oregon's Sara Tucholsky stepped up to the plate and did something she had never done before. She hit a home run over the fence.

But when she missed tagging first base and tried to stop and go back, she injured her knee. She crawled back to first base and touched it, but it was obvious she could not continue to round the bases -- she couldn't walk at all. The umpire said if one of her own teammates or coaches helped her, she would be called out.

The coach could send in a substitute, but the substitute would remain on first and Tucholsky would lose her home run. That's when a couple of players on the opposing team showed some real class.

There was no rule against an opposing player helping Tucholsky, so Central Washington's Liz Wallace (shortstop) and Mallory Holtman (first base) picked up the injured Western Oregon player and carried her around the bases, pausing at each one to let her touch the base with her uninjured leg.

When they carried her across home plate, the entire Western Oregon team and most of the crowd were in tears. The Central Washington coach called it an "unbelievable" act of sportsmanship.

Later Wallace said, "We didn't know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run...We just wanted to help her." Holtman said, "In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much. It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run." Both said others on their team would have done the same.

Central Washington lost the game and were out of the playoffs, but the people of Washington and their home campus can be very proud of this team and these two young ladies.

It would be a much better world if we all showed this kind of selflessness and class.

Congress Bans DNA Discrimination

Yesterday, Congress put the finishing touches on HR 493 and sent it to President Bush. This is one of the most important anti-discrimination bills in years. It prevents discrimination against people by using their DNA. Bush is expected to sign the bill (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) into law.

For many years in this country, it has been against the law to discriminate on the basis of race and gender. Head of the National Human Genome Research Institute Francis Collins said, "Your skin color, your gender, all of those are part of your DNA. Shouldn't the rest of your DNA also fall under that protective umbrella?"

The new law will prevent employers and insurance companies from using DNA information as a basis for hiring, promotion, coverage or setting of premiums. In the past, many people have been afraid of being tested for DNA predisposition to certain things like cancer or sickle cell anemia. They were worried the information would be used against them by their employer or insurance company.

To their credit, both political parties worked together to pass the new DNA protections. It passed the Senate 95-0, and the House 414-1. The only person to vote against the bill was Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). As we know down here in Texas, Paul has always been a maverick and a bit of a nutjob, but I'm a little surprised even he would vote in favor of discrimination.

It's a rare occurence for Republicans and Democrats to come together like this to support anything. That they were able to do so in this case just shows the universal importance of this bill.

Superdelegate Race Is Tightening

When this primary season started, Clinton had a huge lead in the number of superdelegates who had stated their preference. But is the last couple of months, Obama has really closed the superdelegate gap. He has now pulled to within 23 superdelegates.

Even though the mainstream media has been bad-mouthing Obama for days about his relationship with his former-pastor, Rev. Wright, it doesn't seem to have stopped the trending of superdelegates to the Obama campaign. This week, Obama has gotten seven new superdelegates to four for Clinton.

Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa, a new Obama superdelegate, said, "That's been one of the most frustrating things about this prolonged campaign, is we seemed to have gotten away from the critical issues that started this campaign...and now it's more about the side spectacle than the issues that voters really care about. I'm confident that he has taken this issue head-on. He has addressed it in a thoughtful and enlightened way."

In the overall delegate total (both pledged delegates and superdelegates), Obama now has a lead of 133 delegates. He has 1731 delegates and Clinton has 1598 delegates.

Hopefully, Indiana and North Carolina will end this nonsense by extending that lead even further.

Another Clinton Lie

Evidently Clinton didn't learn from the repeated lie she told about ducking sniper bullets in Bosnia. Now she's telling another whopper on the campaign stump in Indiana. What makes it worse is that she knows the truth, but keeps repeating the lie anyway. It's starting to look like she plays as fast and loose with the truth as the president she wants to replace.

She's telling the story of an Indiana company named Magnaquench that makes magnets used in the guidance systems of "smart bombs". The company was bought by the Chinese, and then moved to China in 2003. The jobs that were once in Indiana are now Chinese jobs. That much of the story is true.

The problem is that Clinton blames Bush for the lost jobs and for losing "the know-how, the techinical sophistication that created those magnets". Now Bush has done a lot of things that hurt this country, but he shouldn't be blamed for Indiana's loss of Magnaquench.

The Chinese bought the company in 1995, and the president who signed off on the purchase was BILL CLINTON. By the time Bush became president the Chinese already owned the company, and the owners of the company can move a company anywhere they want. The Clinton-approved NAFTA agreement caused a lot of American companies to move out of the U.S.

According to former Magnaquench vice-president Andy Albers, the Clinton campaign called him and he explained that no military secrets went to China when the company moved. He told ABC News, "I told them all the truth, but it didn't go anywhere. Evan Bayh and Hillary Clinton are living in some false reality here, making all these false allegations".

Clinton knew the truth, but the truth would have put the blame on her husband. So she made up a story that sounded better on the campaign stump. Do we really need another president who'll lie to Americans because the truth doesn't suit her purpose?

America needs a change -- not another president who lies.

Justice's Wife Is Indicted - Again

In the last few months, several Republicans on the Texas Supreme Court have had their ethical problems. One of them is Justice David Medina. Back in January, we learned that he had appropriated thousands of dollars from his campaign fund to reimburse himself for commuting expenses -- something that is clearly prohibited by Texas law.

Medina and his wife were also indicted by a Houston grand jury on charges relating to the arson of his Houston-area home. His wife was indicted for arson, and Medina was indicted for tampering with evidence. They were lucky back then because they were friends with ethically-challenged Harris County District Attorney Rosenthal, who immediately threw out the charges.

But the District Attorney ran into his own problems and had to resign his office. Now it looks like Medina's problems are returning. Yesterday, a new grand jury returned another indictment of arson on Medina's wife, Francisca. This time it looks like the charge will stick.

It's even possible the tampering charge could be reinstated against Medina. Prosecutor Vic Wisner said, "Anything is possible at this point. If something came forward, we'd look at it."

Where else but Texas could half the Supreme Court have ethical and criminal issues?