I think even Hillary's detractors would have to agree that her speech rocked the DNC tonight and was exactly what the Democrats needed: a great message and a masterful speech, delivered by a pro.

Scariest thing is it was almost an accident they were caught.

Link...

Randy, and anybody else planning a trip to or thru Kansas,
Here is something you have got to see to truly appreciate:
The Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas.
Official Website Link...
Roadside America's Website Link...

My wife and I visited this place on a sightseeing tour/vaction we took during a summer break (and before our divorce) from classes at KSU. It looks really guady and wierd, and to a certain extent it is, BUT up close you can really see the strange form of genius at work. Mr. Dinsmoor did all of this on his own, in concrete. There's a weather vane that weighs a ton (?, maybe more, I forget) that is so perfectly balanced that it actually works!

Of course, there's also the Mausoleam where, for a few extra bucks, you can enter and actually see the body of Mr. Dinsmoor laid out in his eternal glory in his custom concrete coffin with glass viewing plate. Rather creepy but the visit really isn't complete without seeing it.

UPDATE & FIX:
Randy, I apologize! I confused your last name with your first name and just noticed it while I was showing off KnoxViews to my brother. I have fixed it.
I wrote the original message after getting off work (Midnight to Eight AM) and had not yet had my nap. Please accept my most humble apologies for my screw-up.
SteveMule

Welcome to Denver, part two?

Denver has set aside holding pens inside a dilapidated warehouse with no toilets, no water, no fire sprinkler system.

The location was determined unfit for storing voting equipment.

What the heck, they're only protesters. Not really human.

What's Denver doing about these types of activities?

[Denver] Officers also are antsy about the recent death of a man found dead in a Denver luxury hotel on Monday near a pound of cyanide.

The Konservative Koffee Klatch of Obamaphobics have finally achieved nexus with the...wait for it!... 9/11 Truthers.

This surely means the end times are upon us, my friends.

Interests: Pinot Noir, leggy Baltic blondes, helping kick off pointless regional bloodbaths in exchange for large sacks of cash.

Favorite quote:

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac”

- H. Kissinger

Added: This is a great backgrounder on the morass of Caucasian conflicts that Scheunemann and his ilk have worked to drag into US politics.

These yahoos operate a lot like the brass on The Wire. They know nothing and could care less about the facts on the ground, and work tirelessly to spin human tragedy into their stupid little power plays and money schemes. It's really disgusting to watch, yet darkly compelling.

President Bush and the McCain campaign are beating a dead horse these days and it is called the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They want you to believe that we must squeeze the last bits of oil out of the earth, wherever we can find it, and we need to start right here at home by destroying our last remaining wild refuge and devastating our coastal wetlands in the name of boosting corporate oil profits. The right wing echo chamber has taken up the cause celeb, and candidates across the country can be heard ringing the bells of freedom for the global oil market.

Tom Hayden was there in 1968, in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. He was one of the Chicago Seven charged with inciting the riots.

As regards to '68,

"It simply didn't have to happen," Hayden says of the Chicago chaos, 40 years later. "It takes two for a riot to occur. And if it wasn't for the FBI advisers, Chicago '68 would not have happened - repeat, would not have happened."

In regard to '08,

"...there's really no comparison to 2008, he says."

In '68, the Democratic Party was prolonging a war where hundreds of young men were dying every week. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were both assassinated shortly before the convention.

Let's hope both sides will stay calm this time around. A preview, Yippies with 'peace bats'.

John McCain recently released an ad that admitted America was worse of today than it was four years ago. What it fails to show is that if John McCain is elected America faces "Four More Years."

This video gives the McCain ad a more accurate finish with Bush's and McCain's own words.

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." - W

McCain Offers Prizes for Spam Comments

Sen. John McCain's campaign is urging supporters to spam blogs and forums with official talking points, according to the Washington Post. If you do a good job, you can even win prizes.

"That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort, one that combines the features of 'AstroTurf' campaigning with the sort of customer-loyalty programs offered by airlines, hotel chains, restaurants and the occasional daily newspaper."

"People who sign up for McCain's program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites

And you don't even have to write the first original line:

On McCain's Web site, visitors are invited to "Spread the Word" about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor's screen name. The site offers sample comments ("John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .") and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into "conservative," "liberal," "moderate" and "other" categories. Just cut and paste.

We'll feel right at home around here! Maybe our resident GOP talking points heroes can get better compensation now?

Funny:

"I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town and come back to work," he [Senator McCain] said. "Come off their recess. Come off their vacation and address this energy crisis for America and don't leave until you do. Republican and Democrat joining together. And a very vital part of that is nuclear power. And another vital part of that is offshore drilling."

Yes, if there's a Senator who should chide Congress on not getting work done, it's John McCain.

McCain's new ad - it's got everything but "call me."

Many Tennesseans were stunned to hear the news that yesterday morning at 10:18am a lone gunman walked into a welcoming congregation in Knoxville and opened fire on the congregants who were gathered in anticipation of watching their children perform a scene from the musical "Annie" as part of the morning services, killing two people and shooting several more in the head before being tackled to the ground. That church, the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, is a beacon of joy and hope in East Tennessee. Its congregation is made up of some of the most loving, kind and gentle people in the fine city of Knoxville, and the horrific tragedy which was visited upon that church is a wakeup call to good people throughout Tennessee to re-examine our approach to gun control in Tennessee and throughout this nation.

Friday is a good day for quotes. I have a couple you might enjoy courtesy of TPM and contributors.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 9th year inaugural address:

If any of our enemies, from Europe or from Asia, attempt long-range raids by "suicide" squadrons of bombing planes, they will do so only in the hope of terrorizing our people and disrupting our morale. Our people are not afraid of that. We know that we may have to pay a heavy price for freedom. We will pay this price with a will. Whatever the price, it is a thousand times worth it. No matter what our enemies, in their desperation, may attempt to do to us- we will say, as the people of London have said, "We can take it." And what's more we can give it back and we will give it back--with compound interest.

John Kennedy's inaugural address:

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

Have a wonderful weekend and be careful out there!

I was emailed this and hope it is nothing more than a load of garbage.

>>MCCAIN
>> 0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not
>> propose
>> any change in existing home sales income tax.
>> OBAMA
>> 28% on profit from ALL home sales

If it is bull, and hope that it is, then I am in a dilemma. Even if it turns out to be true I feel we are not hearing the full story. I have faith in Obama and feel this is nothing more than right wing propaganda but it leaves me with this situation, do I block or not block my brother's email's. He is obviously a lost individual who just doesn't seem to get it.

Now the question is how do we fight the right wing propaganda machine. Using the internets they are able to spread false statements as fast as the speed of light and there doesn't seem to be a way to combat it? The poor lost souls who are uninformed, fall into this trap and believe every word of every email that is sent to them. I personally try to research the contents of these emails by Googling it so I can have ammunition to put down these myths in my replies, but it seems that it is getting harder to get to the truth because of the pages upon pages of the same repeated propaganda.

In this society it's beginning to feel that truth is succumbing to lies?

We've heard recently about the wisdom of John McCain. Here's a compilation, in his own words, using video clips, exhibiting that wisdom. Now you can decide for yourself about his wisdom. Link...

Read Katie Couric's interview today with Obama; then read her interview with McCain.

Compare and contrast. Who spends his time talking about his foreign policy vision and goals? Who spends his time bashing his opponent?

And BTW, the comment about "would rather lose a war..." - that's the second time today McCain said it.

Do you suppose everyone who supports Obama also wants to "lose a war"? Are we all traitors?

Q: What's the difference between Osama and Obama?

A: The Republicans are actually trying to stop Obama.

"I think it's fair to say that we don't have any specific credible threat information with regard to the convention, you know, from a terrorist standpoint."

Let's see, Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, he got to watch Saddam Hussein get arrested, he has a degree in accounting, and he worked undercover in Chicago. Oh, and he was a "legal" attache in Baghdad.

Let's hope all of the additional security personnel in Denver do get to go there, see the Rocky Mountains, and go home.

Heckuva job, Jimmie!

This is the first I ever heard of Apollo Braun.

Link...

McCain, Obama first joint appearance in a church?

From TalkLeft,

We should keep religion and morality out of politics. It's a private matter that should stay private. What's next, debates at churches? Televising prayer breakfasts instead of congressional hearings? This is a slippery slope.

Sheesh.

H/T egalia.

The Orlando Sentinel posts an article on "Winning Strategies for Obama, McCain in Florida".

Florida generally tends to lean Republican. "Republicans carried Florida in eight of the past 11 presidential elections..." Nothing unique here, Republicans carried most of the states in the past 11 presidential elections.

The writer's tip for Obama, Maximize turnout.

However, it appears the one time Florida did not follow the Republican trend was Bill Clinton's second term, 1996. The 1996 election had the lowest voter turnout of the past 12 presidential elections and Florida went for Clinton. Could it really have been a great economy that won Clinton the election in Florida? I guess the writer's tip may be good after all since Obama will not win based on a good economy this year.

Thanks to the "mental recession," I suspect scenes like this will be repeated across the country in the coming months.

A number of regional banks are in trouble. Shares of First Horizon National Corp., parent of First Tennessee Bank, fell 24% today.

If you have an amount deposited in a bank account (any bank) in excess of the FDIC-insured $100,000, I recommend you withdraw it and place it elsewhere. Immediately.

McCain argues that flip-flops are an example of a political leader who can't be trusted -- so he might as well drop out of the race.

Someone's keeping track. No, it's not Fox News or Rush. Currently 61 flip-flops and still counting. That doesn't include multiple flips on the same subject. I had to find out after a vigorous discussion in a thread below. Now you'll know too.

Now, how about them 'crocs?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in the South this week. He is scheduled to be in Charlotte, NC, today and "is scheduled to make stops this week in Virginia, Georgia and Ohio..."

Anyone heard of a visit to Tennessee in the works?

Sen. McCaskill, MO, is quoted as saying Obama's economic plan:

"calls for cutting income taxes and providing a stimulus for small business growth. McCaskill said Obama will provide up to $1,000 in income tax credits for families and will eliminate income taxes for seniors making $50,000 or less a year."

Years ago there was "income averaging", where your federal taxes were based on your average income over 3-4 years (can't remember exactly). That was a pretty good boost for young people just starting out. They weren't slammed with higher taxes the first year or two their incomes started to rise.

Will college football opening day on tv affect the number of viewers watching Obama's acceptance speech?

H/T comment at TalkLeft.

July 4th marks the anniversary of the birth of this nation. On that day, the Declaration of Independence was signed by a cadre of men, who wrote the words ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ That declaration was a living promise to future generations of certain fundamental, inalienable rights such as the right to privacy.

Are Democrats like perpetual hippies? Like, wow, man, we're holding a convention. Let's get it together.

According to an analysis by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, St. Paul and the Republicans are better organized and have a better plan in 5 out of 8 categories. The Democrats are good when it comes to Volunteers, Environmental Friendliness, and, of course, Star Power. We got the Hollywood types. Can we win an election though?

Speaking of Environmental Friendliness, one other thing the Democrats are doing is promoting healthy eating. There will be no fried food available through the convention. This doesn't seem very hospitable to us Southerners. I mean, what are you going to serve us? Tomatoes?

Arapahoe County, just south of Denver, has decided to prevent protesters from carrying big sticks, projectile launchers and gas masks. They have not yet included OveGloves.

Denver has announced the designated "protest zone", "within view and earshot of delegates and others entering and leaving the Pepsi Center".

Some protesters-to-be are unhappy with scheduled availability to the DNC parade route saying, "the times it will be open for use—11 a.m. to 3 p.m.—guarantee protesters won't be seen by delegates, who arrive daily at the Pepsi Center at 4 p.m."

Man, I tell ya. Is it really a protest when every little thing is controlled? Not that I want any violence or anything like that. It's just like, wow, man, why is everyone so angry? When are we going to start working together to get something done? Why even have a convention? To create a platform for the campaign? Does anything from the platforms every come to fruition? I'm just sayin.