Just heard this mentioned on CNN.  Can't find a web link yet.

Apart from this:

http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2008 aug/13/police-chasing-after-shooting-de mocratic-party-hea?news/arkansas

Crossposted at DailyKos

In his satirical (and hilarious) book The Areas of My Expertise, funnyman John Hodgman categorizes the State of Texas like this:

NICKNAMES:  The Homeland, More Mexico

MOTTO:  "Friendship, Except When Betrayed, or Approached by Strangers."

NOTES:  You have heard the saying that everything is bigger in the Lone Star state, and it is true that the cats are the size of dogs and the dogs are the size of European cars.  But Texans themselves are of normal proportions, with normal-sized dreams and loves, who just happen to own cars that are the size of twenty-five European cars.

Like all good satire, there's a grain or two of truth in Hodgman's summary.  I work in the environmental consulting industry, often in support of the development and permitting of renewable energy facilities (e.g. wind and solar).  Last week these efforts brought me to the near center of a vast sea of Republican red: West Texas.

We've seen lots of hand wringing of late in regard to Obama's most recent position on FISA:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) today announced his support for a sweeping intelligence surveillance law that has been heavily denounced by the liberal activists who have fueled the financial engines of his presidential campaign.

Alright, let's simmer down.  I'm already seeing diaries and comments berating Senator Obama for what some are seeing as pandering to conservatives.

Taking a page from President Bush, Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday he wants to expand White House efforts to steer social service dollars to religious groups, risking protests in his own party with his latest aggressive reach for voters who usually vote Republican.

Senator John McCain tells us that that the war in Iraq is "necessary and just", and hey, good news: Bush's surge is a success! Will it work for the next 100 years? Let's take a glance at May of this year to see how well everything is working so far, eh?

Crossposted at DailyKos

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." -- Steve Earle.

I'm big fan of Townes Van Zandt.  Unlike Steve Earle, I never had the opportunity to know or play music with him. Anyhoo, I had to work late last night to meet a report deadline, so I did what I often do:  dialed my iPod to the TVZ collection and put it on shuffle.  For hours, many of Townes' best tunes pumped through my headphones while I wrote the narrative sections of my scientific report and formatted table after table.  

I came to a good stopping point, and poked my head into MyDD for a quick peek around, knowing there would likely be some "interesting" diaries and comments in the wake of Senator Obama having secured the Democratic nomination for President.  Boy howdy.  The last thing I did before I finally went to bed last night was read a diary that described an (all but finished) Presidential candidate with a precious metals simile-- specifically, polished gold.

More after the fold.

Sorry for the short dairy, but thought some folks might want to see this.  I figured a comment post would get lost among the frothing multiple diaries currently popping.

So, while we wait for the final tally from Indiana.  Come on Lake County!

According to this article, the Mayor of Gary, Indiana is hinting that Obama may upset Clinton when all is said and done.

Some snippets after the fold.

*Except he's not.

Hillary Clinton's hometown paper, The Scranton Times-Tribune endorses:

For Pennsylvania Democrats, the best answer in the April 22 primary is Barack Obama.

In a nomination campaign that has defied convention, Mr. Obama has energized an entire generation of voters that, for the most part, otherwise had checked out of political participation. That, at least, portends a new approach to governance that can help to dissipate the political miasma that has engulfed Washington at least since the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is an extremely talented politician who already has secured a unique place in U.S. political history. She repeatedly has proved her political death notices to be premature. She also has demonstrated that she is a master of public policy. And -- this is not and should not be taken lightly in an area that prides itself on family and a tradition of supporting its own -- the Rodham family has deep Scranton roots.

But Mrs. Clinton also is a political lightning rod. There is little doubt that a second Clinton presidency would further the deep divisiveness that characterizes American politics -- a divisiveness that dug itself deep during the Clinton presidency, and even deeper during the Bush-Cheney years.

Deep roots, but it may be that the leaves are changing color.