Hillary. I have supported you through thick and thin and even alienated some friends along the way. But, now is the time to look the truth in the eyes and gracefully exit this contest. It's over and the only theoretical way for you to get the nomination at this point would be so destructive to the party that we risk losing all of the formidable gains Democrats have made this cycle.

We can not afford a McPain presidency and the resulting ultra conservative SCOTUS that would ensue.

Please, do the right thing.

I'm honestly curious why non-states have primaries? I've got nothing against statehood if they want it, and in that case representation would obviously make sense. But as territories? - Kos

As someone who grew up in the US Virgin Islands, let me attempt a non-scholarly answer:

Representation means a lot.

For a more rounded exploration, take the jump with me.

Several news sites are now breaking the news that Fidel Castro will not seek re-election.

I will update this diary as soon as more details emerge.

Sources so far include Norway's Dagbladet, Reuters and the BBC.

I wonder how this will affect the elections and US policy in the Caribbean in the next few years.

I apologize for what by necessity must be a brief diary, with little further participation by myself. You see, I am writing this via my iPod Touch(tm) and a finicky open WiFi connection from my room in a small guest house in the Chinatown district of Bangkok, Thailand. I just returned here from a 10 day tour of Cambodia, including Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. (In brief: a "wow" vacation.) I return to my regular ex-pat life in Oslo, Norway on Sunday.

As a registered member of Democrats Abroad, I signed up for the Global Primary which will be sending, l believe, 22 delegates to the Democratic convention.

Now here's the thing. Had I stayed in Oslo for February 5th, I could have attended the primary event in town or mailed or even  faxed in my ballot. (I last resided in California stateside). But since primary day found me in the outback of Indochina,  I availed myself of a last, and fabulously historic option. I voted via the internet. From a rundown, dialup iCafé
with a thatched roof in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

Everybody's talking about Hillary coming in 3rd in Iowa, but I have seen precious little on the fact that Hillary ended up with one less delegate than Obama and one more than Edwards in the Iowa caucuses.

An AP analysis of the Iowa caucus results showed Obama winning 16 delegates, followed by Clinton with 15 and Edwards with 14.

With a solid majority of Michigan's delegates just about locked up and the addition of many superdelegate pledges, Hillary is clearly ahead at this point.

In today's Asian Cup Soccer finals, Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 1-0

The 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, send an inspiring message around the world, but also a tremor of foreboding because previous victories en route to this final wrought 60 deaths through bullets fired in celebration and terrorist bombs detonated to blow apart soccer's unifying power.

Can the improbable sports-field victory of an Iraqi multiethnic (Sunni, Shia and Kurd) team carry enough nationalist symbolic power to change the mindset in Iraq?

Follow me over the midfield...

I  apologize for a short diary. I just read this at C|Net:

The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.

Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords. Source

I'm too flabbergasted to say much more than that things are a lot worse in the USA than I ever imagined. Please go read the entire article.

Another diary on this here.

According to the latest AP-AOL poll Americans are plenty pessimistic about 2007. Terrorism and natural disasters top the list of fears for a majority of Americans.

But here is the clincher:

Among other predictions for the U.S. in 2007:

_Slightly more than one-third, or 35 percent, of Americans predict the military draft will be reinstated.

_One in four, 25 percent, anticipates the second coming of Jesus Christ. [Emphasis added] Source

One in four Americans expect the Second Coming of Christ next year! Now given that this group probably reflects just about all of the religious right, and that twice as many Americans are pessimistic about short term future, it seems that we have an extremely demoralized US public.

I think that this is an important mood for us to consider whil expanding our progressive base.

Of all the bits of conventional wisdom that died with this week's election results -- all politics is local; Congressional corruption will affect only a few races; gerrymandering will limit G.O.P. losses -- the biggest is the Beltway deification of Karl Rove. Don't expect to hear anyone emote again any time too soon about how he is a genius, infallible, reinventing American politics, on his way to establishing a permanent Republic majority, etc., etc. In 2006 Rove revealed himself to be a one-trick pony.  NYT

(TimesSelect is free through the end of the week. NYT registration still required.)

Hop below the fold for more:

Saddam Hussein will be condemned to death, according to an Iraqi TV station. The prosecutor refused comment.

It was Al-Forat that Monday reported that Iraq's former dictator will get the death sentence. The TV station did not reveal its source(s).

Refused Comment
"It is not I who decides if Saddam gets the death penalty. That is up to the judges, and therefor I will not comment the TV report, says chief prosecutor Jaafar Al-Mussawi to Nettavisen monday evening."

"I hope the decision is made public on Sunday, November 5th. But I will say to you and all Iraqis in Norway, that it is a sure thing that all of the evidence we have is enough to ensure that Saddam and his cohorts will get the death sentence(s)", he continued.

The TV station is run by the largest Sunni Shi'a party in Iraq, SCIRI (Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq). The station broke into a fotball (Soccer) match between Iraq and Saudi Arabia to report the news. Source

AP Photo/Pavel Rahm

The path to peace is paved with economic progress.

2nd Update:

"I can't believe that it's truly happened," Yunus told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) shortly after the Peace Prize was announced. "Thank you so very much."

Yunus, who started the so-called "Microcredit" system of making tiny loans to poor people, said he already was looking forward to making the trip to Oslo on December 10 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He said he'd invest the SEK 10 million cash award that comes with the Peace Prize back into his financing offers for the poor. source: NRK

Think about it. Even if just one incandescent, vacuum tube, plain old 60 W light bulb only were replaced per American household with flourescent or LED or other energy saving light sources the savings in billions of dollars, energy consumption and the demand for oil would be astonishing. Billions of dollars saved a year.

Below the fold take a look at some other statistics to contrast with the Bush league failed "War on Terra^TM"

The two devastating memos, written by the U.S. and local governments, show they knew. They knew the toxic soup created at Ground Zero was a deadly health hazard. Yet they sent workers into the pit and people back into their homes.

One of the memos, from the New York City health department, dated Oct. 6, 2001, noted: "The mayor's office is under pressure from building owners ... in the Red Zone to open more of the city." The memo said the Department of Environmental Protection was "uncomfortable" with opening the areas but, "The mayor's office was directing the Office of Emergency Management to open the target areas next week."

* What is your position on the Patriot Act?

* Is it in the best interest of the USA to retain the Dept. of Homeland Security?

* What are your priorities in dealing with Terror?

(More questions below the fold)

The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court. source

That means that all of the arguments about why the NSA illegal wiretap program is an integral and essential tool in preventing terrorist attacks against the USA are utter bullswallop.

September 11, 2001

Wasn't prevented.

The Council on Ethics has considered allegations that Wal-Mart is implicit in violations of human rights and labour rights in its business operations. Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer, posting a turnover of USD 285 billion in 2005.

Point 4.4., second paragraph, first bullet point of the Ethical Guidelines, reads:

"The Council shall issue recommendations on the exclusion of one or several companies from the investment universe because of acts or omissions that constitute an unacceptable risk of the Fund contributing to: serious or systematic human rights violations, such as murder, torture, deprivation of liberty, forced labour, the worst forms of child labour and other forms of child exploitation."

More below

And that got me thinking. OK, so the word "shit" is in there. "Shit" comes from the old Norse and Anglo Saxon word for "dirt", "muck". In Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Icelandic the word is still used today to mean just that. Plain old dirt.

Back in olde England, oh, about a thousand years ago, when the Normanns were the upper class, with French as the language of the elite, Anglo Saxon vocabularies became the language of the rabble, the street, the under class. The language of the conquered became the dirty language. If you said "shit" you were unrefined. If you said "defecate" you were refined. "Shit" became a bad word.

More fun with words after the break

THE US Department of Defense has revealed plans to develop a lie detector that can be used without the subject knowing they are being assessed. The Remote Personnel Assessment (RPA) device will also be used to pinpoint fighters hiding in a combat zone, or even to spot signs of stress that might mark someone out as a terrorist or suicide bomber. New Scientist

Now on the battlefield, on foreign soil, in a time of war... OK, maybe. But at home, in the hands of the police or covert operatives... Warrants, anyone? I dunno...

Join me for more after the bump ...... :: ...