Wet that whistle and ring that bell

Here is my attempt at a song which can be sung at an anti-war protest rally. I went for simple and churchy. I also went for lyrics that put a little personal responsibility into the mix.


The lyrics are...

If we don't bring them home, they will stay.
If we don't bring them home, they will stay.
If we don't bring them home, they will stay and stay.
Let's bring them home, bring them home, bring them home.


We've been stuck in Iraq, far too long.
We've been stuck in Iraq, far too long.
We've been stuck in Iraq, with no plan to get back.
Let's bring them home, bring them home, bring them home.


Here is the melody (MP3 format)

Download

It starts on middle C.

A song that stays like a US soldier in Iraqi

The latest delegate odds

Now that Oregon and Kentucky have spoken, it is time to update the delegate math...

Barak Obama has 1656 pledged delegates and 306super delegates for a total of 1962delegates.

Hillary Clinton has 1498 pledged delegates and 279 super delegates for a total of 1777 delegates.

Democratic candidates need 2026 delegates to win the nomination.
Obama therefore needs 64 more delegates (1962 + 64 = 2026).
Hillary needs 249 more delegates (1681 + 249 = 2026).

There are 302 available delegates. Obama needs 21.19% of them and Hillary needs 82.45% of them.

Hillary says she is staying the course, so it is on to Montana and South Dakota.

Source: CNN Delegates 2008

Hamas as victim

When a Grad Katyusha rocket fired by Hamas lands in an Israeli shopping mall and injures 90 people why isn't that news?

The Western media has become one-sided in its' portrayal of violence with respect to Gaza, painting a simplistic view of Israelis as oppressors and Palestinians as victims even when Hamas targets civilians.

Can you imagine what the U.S. response would be if Canada fired a rocket into a mid-western shopping mall?

And yet the Israelis' respond with little-more than precision strikes.

It is a safe bet that if a Palestinian civilian is harmed in response to these acts of war it will be deemed news and possibly an outrage.

The new numbers

Hillary blew Barak Obama out in West Virginia hitting the target of 66% of the vote, which is a remarkable total.

But, Barak did win some delegates and that changes the math...

Hillary has 1,444 pledged delegates and 273 super delegates for a total of 1717 delegates. She now needs 307 of the remaining 432 delegates to win. That is 71% of the total.

Barak has 1,600 pledged delegates and 282 super delegates for a total of 1882 delegates. He now needs 142 of the remaining 432 delegates to win. That is 32.87% of the total.

You will notice that Hillary clobbered Barak in West Virginia and yet the bar becomes even higher for her going forward (from 66% to 71%). Every little drop in Obama's delegate bucket makes Hillary's odds worse, but all the votes are not yet counted.

Next up are Kentucky and Oregon.

Errol Morris' new film

In the pudding

Due to rising oil prices, gas prices, food prices, and unemployment rates, people in Maine have been seeking welfare in greater numbers (up 10% in 2008).

This means Republicans are now responsible for increasing the size of government, spying on Americans, over-turning state initiatives, embroiling us in a costly foreign occupation, and increasing the welfare roles.

The chasm between what Republicans spout and what they deliver grows deep and wide.

More delegate math

Now that North Carolina and Indiana have spoken, it is time to update the delegate math...

Barak Obama has 1584 pledged delegates and 252 super delegates for a total of 1836 delegates (Source).

Hillary Clinton has 1415 pledged delegates and 266 super delegates for a total of 1681 delegates (Source).

John Edwards has 18 pledged delegates.

Democratic candidates need 2024 delegates to win the nomination.
Obama therefore needs 188 more delegates (1836 + 188 = 2024).
Hillary needs 343 more delegates (1681 + 343 = 2024).

3535 delegates awarded so far (1836 + 1681 + 18).
There are 4049 total delegates (Source).
There are, then, 514 delegates remaining.

There are 221 pledged delegates left, ranked in descending delegate order below:

Puerto Rico has 55 delegates and votes on June 7th
Oregon has 52 delegates and votes on May 20th
Kentucky has 51 delegates and votes on May 20th
West Virginia has 28 delegates and votes on May 13th
Montana has 16 delegates and votes on June 3rd
South Dakota has 15 delegates and votes on June 3rd
Guam has 4 delegates and votes on May 3rd

This means there are 293 super delegates remaining (514 - 221)

Now that we have the updated info we can look at the updated odds.

Obama needs 188 of the 514 remaining delegates, so he needs 36.58% (an improvement of 6.8% since last check) of the total to win the nomination (188/514).

Hillary needs 343 of the 514 remaining delegates, so she needs 66.73% (a drop in the odds of 8.06% since last check) of the total to win the nomination (343/514).

Hillary has never achieved those kinds of pledged delegate numbers in this race. The closest she has come to that is in American Samoa where she grabbed 2 of the 3 delegates for 66.66%.

She is finished whether or not she admits it.

To this point Barak Obama has spent $158,509,856 to defeat Hillary Clinton (Source).

To this point Hillary Clinton has spent $108,862,564 to not defeat Barak Obama (Source)

That means that democratic candidates have spent $267,372,420 to choose a nominee.

That's incredible, isn't it?

From the horse's mouth

I am tired of people saying they "misspoke" and getting a free pass.

Think and hope

Hillary's 3am ad projected the message, "Fear to vote for Obama". Her late Pennsylvania ad seems designed to scare Americans about the past:




Here is Bill Clinton speaking about that kind of message: