The Horror

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Get ready for worse to come.

Liars, Cheats and Yahoos

Sorry to keep slamming the Republican party, but their brand is basically characterized these days by obfuscation, fraud and stupidity.

For lies, there's nothing more pungent than the lethal canard they're telling seniors about healthcare reform, that it will somehow lead to the government going door-to-door asking the elderly how they'd like to die.

For cheating, there's the Tea Party organizers creating obstructionist protests to try and stifle healthcare and clean energy reform and falsely inflate their numbers, as well as forged letters belying the climate change crisis.

And for yahoos, there's the birther movement, so white, so Southern, so Republican in nature. From the folks that brought you slavery.

Here's Jon Stewart's take:

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Beware this party: no reason to negotiate with it in Congress anymore. Sorry.

Not our fault.

Last Week/This Week

These are the nicest First Family photos rounding out the Inauguration, emphasis on family. It's been over forty years since there was a family of four with young kids in the White House. (With two boys similar in ages to Malia and Sasha, it's easy to relate.) More of our national return to normal, which will hopefully include an economic rebound within the next 12-18 months.

Looking ahead, there's word that Obama will do exactly what California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked, another fit of sanity, allowing states to set tougher auto emissions standards -- something Ex-Presidente Bush/Cheney would not allow. It's another campaign promise being acted upon swiftly.

In fact, you can track them here.

Last Licks

El Presidente Bush is not quite finished ruining America -- he's making some final, hard-to-revoke moves on the way out the door. Like undermining worker safety -- and more:

Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.

With the economy tumbling and American troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush has promised to cooperate with Mr. Obama to make the transition “as smooth as possible.” But that has not stopped his administration from trying, in its final days, to cement in place a diverse array of new regulations.

The Labor Department proposal is one of about 20 highly contentious rules the Bush administration is planning to issue in its final weeks. The rules deal with issues as diverse as abortion, auto safety and the environment. One rule would make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas. Another would reduce the role of federal wildlife scientists in deciding whether dams, highways and other projects pose a threat to endangered species.

He's putting his stamp on the further destruction of our planet's ecosystem with some final nails in the "old growth" coffin. And he's got rightwingers like the always wrong William Kristol calling for Bush to pardon all torturers and wiretappers in his administration. From masterminds down to thugs. And give them medals.

Yep, it's important to remember, when we're all feeling better about our government later in the new year, that El Presidente and Grand Vizier Cheney have done very, very bad things without respite, and that their "gifts" will keep on giving, which is to say, hurting. I don't expect they will be the last bad men we see in government, but they surely set a low standard.

In fact, all this torching on the way out reminds me of another bad man who left a wake of disaster when he was forced from a particular position.

On the Move

Oh my goodness.

If you had asked me five years ago if I'd be this proud of my Governor Schwarzenegger, I wouldn't have believed it. But he did our state proud today with George Stephanopoulos today, coming out strongly on the environment, praising Jimmy Carter's energy policies, saying that cheaper oil under Reagan just meant those opportunities were discarded, strong with the state against drilling off our coast, hard against the Cheney/Bush Administration saying basically not to bother with any attempted face-saving environmental initiatives in its last few months.

And he not only said he was willing to work with Obama on energy, he was open to a post if Obama does become Chief Executive:

That apparently prompted George Stephanopoulos, the moderator of “This Week,” to ask Mr. Schwarzenegger whether he would take a phone call from Mr. Obama if he was calling with an offer to be his energy and environment czar.

“I’d take his call now, and I’d take his call when he’s president — any time,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said. “Remember, no matter who is president, I don’t see this as a political thing. I see this as we always have to help, no matter what the administration is.”

Mr. Schwarzenegger also offered some praise for Mr. Obama, saying he disagreed with people who have criticized the senator as a flip-flopper.

“Someone has, for 20 or 30 years, been in the wrong place with his idea and with his ideology and says: ‘You know something? I changed my mind. I am now for this,’ ” Mr. Schwarzenegger said. “As long as he’s honest or she’s honest, I think that is a wonderful thing.”

Right on, Governor, and nice relief from some new magazine art. And how perfectly does that reinforce Obama's post-partisan message. As does this:

It's official: Republican Senator Chuck Hagel's office has put out an announcement that he will be joining Barack Obama on a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island...

...going on a overseas visit in the middle of the campaign season will be about as much of a vote of confidence in Obama's foreign policy vision as you could get without it turning into an outright endorsement.

Bing bing.

What I think we're seeing starting this week will be that that the Obama campaign has, understandably, taken a month to gear up after the battle with Senator Clinton, and may be putting their general election strategy fully into motion now. There will be the overseas trip establishing Obama as a world leader in the wings, the Vice Presidential nomination which will hopefully establish his wisdom.

(I'm still betting on Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, even if it alienates some Hillary as Queen Bee die-hards. Sebelius reinforces Obama's post-partisan message, has strong executive experience, was an early supporter and now friend, has chaired the Governors Association so she has great ties nationwide, and her look kind of counteracts Cindy McCain.)

As a final bellwether of this notion, the Obama making his move theory, there's his perfectly timed, crystal clear, prescient Op-Ed in Monday morning's New York Times, "My Plan for Iraq". Events are helping Obama here, as the Iraq Government rejects a longterm U.S. presence, and talk of early withdrawal crosses Administration lips, making Barack more right than ever. While he goes into detail of the 16-month, careful leave, and forcefully answers the flipflop talk, here's the heart of the unequivocal piece:

Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government. They call any timetable for the removal of American troops “surrender,” even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government.

But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

The time is right. Make your move, Barack.

We're ready.

Cr-a-a-a-a-ck

Bad news for a nice planet:

Some 220 square miles of ice has collapsed in Antarctica and an ice shelf about seven times the size of Manhattan is "hanging by a thread," the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday, blaming global warming.

The scientists watch one piece break off over the course of a day, then went to look at the damage:

"We flew along the main crack and observed the sheer scale of movement from the breakage," said Jim Elliott, according to the group's Web site.

"Big hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses, look as though they've been thrown around like rubble -- it's like an explosion," he said.

"Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened," David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey said, according to the Web site.

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread -- we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

I've spent a lot of time in New York City lately. The idea of an ice mass equal to seven Manhattans breaking off is crazy-making to think about.

As usual these days, I'm with Al:

Confronted by Stahl with the fact some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is man-made, Gore responds: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat,” says Gore. "That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off," he tells Stahl.

Okay, maybe Al's wrong here.

It doesn't demean them enough.

Viral

Here comes contagion -- courtesy of global warming:

Panic was spreading this August through this tidy village of 2,000 as one person after another fell ill with weeks of high fever, exhaustion and excruciating bone pain, just as most of Italy was enjoying Ferragosto, its most important summer holiday...

...People blamed pollution in the river. They denounced the government. But most of all they blamed recent immigrants from tropical Africa for bringing the pestilence to their sleepy settlement of pastel stucco homes...

...Oddly, the villagers were both right and wrong. After a month of investigation, Italian public health officials discovered that the people of Castiglione di Cervia were, in fact, suffering from a tropical disease, chikungunya, a relative of dengue fever normally found in the Indian Ocean region. But the immigrants spreading the disease were not humans but insects: tiger mosquitoes, who can thrive in a warming Europe.

Aided by global warming and globalization, Castiglione di Cervia has the dubious distinction of playing host to the first outbreak in modern Europe of a disease that had previously been seen only in the tropics.

Think it'll be the last?

Solution

Unlike "Clinton Derangement Syndrome" suffered by rightwingers, aversion to, dislike or outright hatred of George W. Bush Jr. is actually rational, because that man actually hates humanity. Why else would he:

- Veto a child health bill.

- Threaten to veto a bill outlawing torture by our American government.

- Be the sole impediment to progress in combating global ecological cataclysm.

How to beat back the bastards Presidents Cheney and Bush?

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) has a simple, effective, logical solution.

By the way, here's where you send the world a message.

Here's our fantasy President, bringing the house down.

Myth

Global warming is obviously a myth:

Atlanta-based UPS, the world's biggest package-delivery company, is testing urinals that drain without water. Coca-Cola turned off the fountain in front of its Atlanta headquarters and canceled planting of new flowers that would require watering, said Kirsten Witt, spokeswoman.

Even the city's aquarium found ways to save a few drops. The Georgia Aquarium bills itself as the world's largest, with 8 million gallons (30 million liters) of water that is home to sharks, sea lions, coral and other aquatic life.

The aquarium, in downtown Atlanta, temporarily cut off a waterfall. For two other water-gushing features, the shutdown is permanent. A lake and a moat are being replaced with sand and art, said Dave Santucci, spokesman.

Wow, that sounds pretty extreme.

The moves may be too late: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that Lake Lanier, the city's reservoir, may run out of clean water in about 110 days. The area has received just 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain this year, half the usual amount.

The worst drought since the 1920's. You know, just before the Great Depression.

We're a great nation. We'll be able to do something to make sure the people of Atlanta do not go without water in 3 1/2 months. There's a plan...right?

``It doesn't seem like people are concerned enough,'' said Mickey Mellen, 31, who tracks the water situation on a blog, www.atlantawatershortage.com. ``What happens when we run out? Nobody has a real answer.''

First New Orleans, now Atlanta? How many more pieces of America do you think we'll lose before, say, January 20, 2009?

Saint Al

Hear, hear:

OSLO, Oct. 12 — Former Vice President Al Gore, who emerged from his loss in the muddled 2000 presidential election to devote himself to his passion as an environmental crusader, was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised both “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.”

The prize is a vindication for Mr. Gore, whose cautionary film about the consequences of climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won the 2007 Academy Award for best documentary, even as conservatives in the United States denounced it as alarmist and exaggerated.

“I will accept this award on behalf of all the people that have been working so long and so hard to try to get the message out about this planetary emergency,” Mr. Gore said Friday in Palo Alto, Calif., standing with his wife, Tipper, and four members of the United Nations climate panel. “I’m going back to work right now,” he said.

Good stuff, and it's nice that the headlines from his statement are all in the vein of, "Gore: Back to work on environment" and "Gore says prize must spur action."

The environment is the frontline of peace, as virtually all wars arise from a scarcity of one kind or another. There's political thought that the Iraq War is as much about water rights -- the Tigris and the Euphrates -- as it is about oil. As the world population expands, global destruction means water scarcity. And, of course, with oil being the most immediate prize in the conflict, we're fighting for the right to continue emitting massive amounts of carbon dioxide, essentially for the right to continue poisoning ourselves as we collapse the polar ice masses.

As for our acting President, Mr. Bush is damned to be fending off heartbroken mothers who despair that their husbands and sons have died for nothing:

Another person who criticized Bush to his face was Elaine Johnson of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Her son, Army specialist Darius Jennings, died with 15 others when their Chinook helicopter was shot down near Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 2, 2003.

In her meeting later that month, she says, she repeatedly pressed Bush for a rationale for the war. She says he failed to deliver a satisfactory answer.

"Miss Jones, you sound a little hostile,'" Bush said, according to Jones, who was an industrial quality inspector.

"Of course I feel hostile. My only son was killed and I can't get an answer," Jones, 44, says she replied.

Bush moved on to a different cluster of family members in the large meeting room at Fort Carson in Colorado. As Bush departed, Jones says, she tried again.

"Could you tell me what is the mission?" she called out. Bush didn't respond.

Couldn't respond. How can he tell her that her son died for his Oedipus Complex butrussed by the greed of his cronies.

Look, at some point we all have to face reality. The Supreme Court blocked any chance Gore might have had to secure the Presidency and we'll never get those critical eight years back. If, like me, you believe there's a reasonable chance 9/11 would have been foiled had Gore taken office (Bush eliminated the daily intelligence briefings Clinton had instituted and didn't listen to Richard Clarke et al; Gore certainly wouldn't have been that stupid), then America would never have gotten a lesson maybe it needed about the true difference with the Republican Party, Ralph Nader's assessment notwithstanding.

I don't think Gore is going to run. I'm not even sure it'd be a good idea if he decided to in time for New Hampshire. I've grown convinced by clear, bold, even refreshing appearances like this that Hilary Clinton is prepared to lead this country, and I'm not sure who else besides Al Gore really is. Whether I'd ultimately prefer her leadership or another prepared citizen, I can't say for sure yet. But at this point only Al could knock her off the Democratic pedestal and I'm not longer certain he'd be a lock. And I think all the Republicans are underestimating her and their peril, just as Dems underestimated the candidate and electoral team of George W. Bush. And they're starting to realize it -- the way they run against her in their debates, you can smell the fear.

So bravo, Al, and here's hoping you can stay above the fetid fray and somehow effectively lead our planet -- maybe starting with your influence on a new Democratic President -- through this turning point in our planetary history. Even if you succeed, there will be other times, decades or centuries ahead, where we again forget our way and new saviors will be required.

But for now it is your ball. Who else in history has ever won as Oscar (okay, the statuette didn't actually go to him), an Emmy (sure, shared) and a Nobel Peace Prize in one year?

Answer: No one else but Al Gore.

Now, Al, for the love of all that is holy, do whatever it is you have to do to finish the job.

Coup D'Iraq

Bush is right, Iraq is just like Vietnam. And if the Cheney/Bush Administration is now setting into motion a coup d'etat designed to replace democratically elected Prime Minister Maliki with Ayad Allawi, just like the U.S. did in 1963 in South Vietnam when that war was going badly.

I think they're trying to prepare us for major upheaval, the sudden and open-ended suspension, perhaps end, of the democratic project. You know, Bush's great "vision."

I think it's going to happen over Labor Day weekend, when they think no one here will be watching the news. Allawi just started spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Republican lobbying firm in D.C., obviously to have his message outlet to build support among the GOP. And he's got the support of a C.I.A.-controlled intelligence operation in Iraq. There's his army.

They're dreaming that he's the new strongman who can keep a lid on the country and let us control their natural resources (oil & water). He tried before to execute a coup under Saddam Hussein. Second time's the charm.

They're laying the groundwork -- Allawi's secular faction (him and two other ministers) just dropped out of the Maliki government. You think it was any accident that they did it on a Friday night, after the news cycle?

My biggest fear is that since Maliki has been talking to Iran and Syria, this is a move in the Joe Lieberdouche direction, and Cheney/Bush will get their wish to enlarge the war into Iran, and set off the region. Bush is already talking about Cambodia -- I guess he hasn't taken enough souls yet.

Ah, well, at least we have our own Tet to look forward to. And since Rove/Bush set in motion the Vietnam parallels, it's only fair to compare dates.

If 2007 = 1963,

then we'll be helicoptering our people out of Iraq in 2017.

Serviced

Just the other day Nettertainment endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican Presidential nomination, which came several weeks after endorsing Mitt Romney for the same. While we look forward to endorsing more of these brilliant GOP candidates for the same nomination, events from today continue to reinforce the first of our endorsements. Mitt really is "the bomb!"

Today at a forum in Iowa when asked by Rachel Griffiths (read her dailykos diary about the event HERE) whether any of his 5 sons is serving in the military and if not, how they intend to, Mitt said the following:

"The good news is that we have a volunteer Army and that's the way we're going to keep it," Romney told some 200 people gathered in an abbey near the Mississippi River that had been converted into a hotel. "My sons are all adults and they've made decisions about their careers and they've chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard."

He added: "One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

Good comparison, Mitt! Your next generation of chickenhawks compared to men and women serving in uniform in Iraq right now. You know, soldiers like these.

Romney's sons sure look healthy enough, and the right age. They even have their own blog for him (service!). But, let's face it, Mitt as Chief Executive would be such a gift to the nation, we should thank him for having others serve in their place, whether fathers or mothers, too. It's kinda like back in the U.S. Civil War, when rich folks could buy their way out of serving:

The Union established a draft with the 1863 Enrolment Act. Section 13 allowed draftees to avoid service by paying a $300 commutation fee or by hiring a substitute. The commutation rule was abandoned the following year, but substitutions continued for the duration of the war.

Mitty's campaign claimed that the quote was taken out of context. Judge for yourself. But was it really smart for them to ask that the whole transcript be considered?

"It’s remarkable how we can show our support for our nation and one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected, because they think I’d be a great president. My son, Josh, bought the family Winnebago and has visited 99 counties, most of them with his three kids and his wife. And I respect that and respect all of those in the way they serve this great country."

He's right about the out-of-context thing. The context, as with his fellow service-dodging Republican George W. Bush, is wealth.

A vote for Mitt is a vote for privilege. And narcissism, on the personal level and, per his own words, as a family trait.

I'm sure the Romneys know all about servants.

I mean, service.

Another Green World

Even with so much cultural dissonance like watching Simon Le Bon break into a global warming entreaty in the middle of a hard-rocking "Girls on Film" live in London, I have nothing but kind words for Live Earth.

If anyone still doesn't understand why Al Gore isn't running for President again, this is it. Performances on all seven (7) continents. Even Antarctica.

Now that's what I call on-message.

An event like this is such a great concert value, tons of great acts, and this time not a bunch of 60's holdovers.. The Police were the granddaddy act, and even they did a duet ("Message in a Bottle") with Kanye West, some of which worked very nicely, some of which was happily dissonant.

The first clip to pop-up on the Net was, funnily enough, Spinal Tap doing "Big Bottom"...along with every single bassist backstage at Wembley. I'm guessing this is the largest audience that the fake heavy metal band has ever played, and there it was...on message?

The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'
That's what I said
The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand
Or so I have read...

...Big bottom, big bottom
Talk about mud flaps, my girl's got 'em
Big bottom drive me out of my mind
How could I leave this behind?

Maybe a methane tie-in?

One of the finest pleasures of Live Earth is that Gore actually stuck it to everyone by pulling it off, and by everyone I mean the Republican leadership. Here we've got President Cheney and Vessel Bush killing off the Kyoto Treaty and then just a month ago sandbagging German Chancellor Angela Merkel's global environmental initiative.

Even better, Gore got it over on satanic Sen. Jame Inhofe (R-OK), a vociferous global-warming denier who treated Gore with an alarming lack of respect, even insult when Al came back to Capitol Hill to testify. Inhofe was so petty, so beholden to his oil-agarchy masters, so much of a fascist that he vowed to personally block Live Earth from using the U.S. Capitol as a venue.

Gore looked particularly pleased to announce that Inhofe had failed to keep Live Earth off Federal property:

"Some who don't understand what is now at stake tried to stop this event on the Mall," the former Democratic presidential candidate said in a thinly veiled hit on members of President George W. Bush's Republican party.

"But here we are," he said as an image of a bright Earth shined behind him. "And it wasn't the cavalry who came to our rescue, it was the American Indian."

Per Jackson Williams at HuffPost:

Gore took the concert denial in stride and quietly made arrangements with the Smithsonian, specifically their National Museum of the American Indian, to sponsor a Washington concert under their auspices, to take place on the Mall, just two blocks from the Capitol. The surprise announcement only came this week, just 24 hours before today's Live Earth concerts. Inhofe has no control over what takes place on the Mall, of course, but he could have - and no doubt would have - made a stink if he knew that the Smithsonian, a federal institution, was partnering with Gore to get around the roadblock he'd threatened...

...Oh, and just who are the headliners performing at this last minute added concert in D.C.? Why, none other than the superstar Couple of Country Music, Oklahoma native and favorite son Garth Brooks and his wife Tricia Yearwood...

Best served cold.

Finally, can I say how happy am to have James Hatfield in our army? He opened MetallicA's apocalyptic "Sandman" hollering:

"Are you out there?
(crowd roar)

"Make some noise if you give a shit!"
(ROAR)

And they vamped under him leading into the next song:

"Are you alive?"
(roar)

"Are you ALIVE?"
(ROAR)

"So tell me, how does it feel to be alive?"
(Crazy Roaring)

"Yeah! Me, too!"
(pandemonium)

Sound pro-Earth to me.

Oh, and if you want the goodness to continue past the final encore, sign up for saving your planet here.

Fascist Pig

I give you (please, take him) Vice President Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney, criminal:

For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office’s handling of classified information, and when the National Archives unit that monitors classification in the executive branch objected, the vice president’s office suggested abolishing the oversight unit, according to documents released yesterday by a Democratic congressman.

He tried to abolish the very unit that was created to monitor him. Think Tony Soprano, without the charm.

It gets worse:

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.

Is there any better argument for Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby serving the longest sentence possible? These conspirators, led by mob boss Cheney, treat our sacred Constitution like an old man just asking to be shot in the face.

In other countries brutal, narcissistic, power-mad despots who pervert their country's Constitution like Cheney have faced stiffer penalties. While I don't advocate capital punishment for his acts of treason, surely we've past the point where anyone believes we won't learn that Cheney abused power even worse, and so much of it when he and ideological thugs (along with their puppet Presidente) jammed us into this illegal, ill-advised, tragically executed Iraq War.

Wait, it's actually gone well for Cheney, if you look at the staggering profit he stands to make off of his Halliburton options.

Worse will be if they get away with bombing Iran -- if they haven't already ignited WWIII.

Well, it's time to make Dick and George pay the piper. Hell, just a few more points and El Presidente will break Nixon's record 23% approval rating basement. Three-fourths (3/4) of this country know Bush is a loser, but I'd argue it isn't that we wouldn't want to have a beer with him anymore (although I really wouldn't -- ever). It's because we all know he wipes his ass with our U.S. Constitution, which is just the same as fouling all of us with no regard; no regard for our wishes, no regard for our 74%.

It's not that they just steal money for themselves or their cronies. They've stolen our whole idea about America, and our reputation in the world.

Well, you know what society traditionally does to the lawless.

Let's punish them.

Two Guys

So far a couple of white Southern guys are my favorites to become our next U.S. President. One is actually running for the Democratic Party nomination, the other is not announced and maybe never announcing.

I find something to like in all of the Democratic candidates, and will vote for any of them over any of the Republican candidates, all of whom I find odious and repellent, with the exception of the very honest and (although I disagree with so many of his Libertarian positions) Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), someone I agree with wholeheartedly on the egregious folly of this Iraq War and all of the Patriot Act type civil liberty usurpations they snuck through with it.

While he continues to place #3 in the national polls, John Edwards has an edge in the early Iowa caucus. There are a number of things I like about Edwards. He's the only candidate consistently talking about poverty and what it's doing to our nationhood. As a thinking, acting individual, there is no doubt that he has grown these past four years, and I think he's still growing. And he's got the best wife of all the candidates, long may she live.

So what are his actual odds? Who knows -- Hillary has the national poll numbers, Obama has the star power. As to Edwards' strategy, The New York Times piece from Monday morning is a pretty good picture as far as I've come to understand it:

Mr. Edwards has shown a new eagerness to draw contrasts with his opponents on issues like the war in Iraq and health care, in no small part motivated by his struggle not to get lost in a field of big names. And he has gone from the boyish, easygoing one-time senator from North Carolina to a candidate displaying an urgently engaging manner as likely to seize as to charm an audience, an approach that appears to be particularly effective in the close-quarter meetings that fill his days here.

I don't find it a valid criticism that Sen. Edwards made his money as a trial lawyer. Even Republicans call up a trial lawyer the minute they feel they've been wronged by a major corporation. We've had an actor President, a profession where the main task is to make people believe the story being told, and a whole lot of people hold him in high esteem.

(Personally, I commend President Ronald Reagan for having ignored Rep. Richard Cheney and his band of moron ideologues and chosen to deal with Russian Premier Gorbachev during those fragile early days of glasnost and perestroika. Actual statesmanship.)

Edwards in his positions is fighting the power for national health insurance and impressing regular folks with his live appearances, going to small towns usually ignored by Democrats. He's not some trumped up phony, although he certainly will be selling between now and either his eventual win or elimination. I don't begrudge him that, either.

Then there's the rock star:

Mr. Gore is scheduled to address the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival as part of the windup leading to the Live Earth concerts on July 7, which are intended to raise awareness of the issue of climate change.

You might think that Mr. Gore and his campaign against global warming would find few friends in Cannes. The production, transport, sale and consumption of goods and services add a few sizes to anyone’s carbon footprint.

Yet Mr. Gore is being accorded rock star status at the festival, an event that in the past has been headlined by industry insiders. The embrace of Mr. Gore shows how “green” advertising has galvanized the marketing community.

It turns out the ultimate salesman is the former Vice President and 2000 Presidential popular vote winner, wildly successful in selling the very real threat of global warming to the populace of the world. It's all consumer driven sentiment -- we do want to save our world! -- so advertisers are responding. Of course, we'll see if they're really serious about being good corporate citizens in the long run, but there is no one but Al who made this happen.

Per England's The Guardian, "It has got to be Al Gore":

Other politicians and nations can pressure and preach - but top-down decision-making starts in the Oval Office.

Is that possible when climate change is just one "normal" issue among many, to be ceremonially weighed against US jobs or gas prices or Chinese imports? It's not. But that, with inevitable shades of emphasis, is where every extant presidential candidate stands. Too timid, too slow. Global warming is an utterly abnormal issue that needs a leader all of its own. Gore has fashioned himself as that leader. He can't just sit there and pontificate. He has to run. And, when he does, the rest of us have to put inconvenient illusions aside and listen.

The bloke's got a point.

And when I look at this, I get happy chills of projection...