sunday night song

h/t to SueJ for reminding me how much I love this song.

Okay Chuck … hand it over

Charlton Heston, the public face of the NRA, once said “I have only five words for you: From my cold, dead hands.”

Okay Chuck … hand it over.
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Detroit Girl, 3, Shoots Self in Head
The Associated Press
Sunday, April 6, 2008; 8:06 PM

DETROIT — Detroit police say a 3-year-old girl found a gun in a bedroom of her home and shot herself in the head. Her condition wasn’t immediately known.

One of the girl’s parents apparently owned the gun with which she shot herself Sunday afternoon. At least one parent was home at the time. The Detroit Free Press says police questioned the parents and took the gun.

The girl was taken to Sinai Grace Hospital, then transferred to Detroit Children’s Hospital.
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Can we finally have a sensible gun policy in this country?

Helen Thomas tells Sen. Clinton “hang in there”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a HUGE Helen Thomas fan. I’ve had the privilege of meeting her a few times, and I think she may be the ONLY real investigative journalist left in this country.

Here is what Ms. Thomas has to say about the Democratic contest:

Hillary Clinton should hang in there and run a good race.

And she has vowed to do so.

Clinton has been under unprecedented pressure to bow out of the divisive Democratic primary and to clear the field for her opponent — Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Among those who want her to throw in the towel are, of course, Obama’s supporters. But many other Democrats are trying to push her out of the contest on the ground that a contentious race can hurt the party and could help their Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Clinton also has been deserted by some fair-weather friends such as New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson, who held two Cabinet appointments during her husband’s presidency. [...]

Obama has captivated the enthusiastic support of America’s youth and ignited their interest in presidential politics. His eloquent speeches are designed for the bully pulpit. But does a good speech make a good president?

Obama stresses he was against the invasion of Iraq, but he doesn’t say he was not in the Senate when it was initiated. Since become a senator, he has twice voted to fund the war.

I am still trying to find the key that has made Obama a prime candidate for the presidency, and to understand what he has done for the country beyond his middle-of-the-road political moves to make his name known and to steer clear of hot-button issues.

The Rev. Martin Luther King had a dream, too. But he acted on it. He went to jail, he marched, he led. [...]

A Feb. 20-24 New York Times-CBS poll found that 48 percent of respondents said the news media were tougher on Clinton compared with 43 percent, who thought the media were tougher on Obama.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that the major newspaper columnists are giving Obama a free ride, while trashing Clinton. Likeability undoubtedly goes a long way with them, and he has mesmerized the media.

Clinton, on the other hand, has left herself open to criticism for dubious involvement in foreign policy decisions in the Clinton years. But one can’t deny that she was there and that her opinion was respected.

Obama can be forgiven for acting like a front-runner, but not for his patronizing remarks such as: “My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants.”

Even Clinton has the audacity of hope — and why not?

sunday funnies

obama refuses to talk with gay media

from the Huffington Post:

The Philadelphia Gay News is hammering Barack Obama for what they say is his consistent refusal to speak to gay media outlets.

In its latest issue, the paper features a front-page interview with Hillary Clinton and a large blank space under a photo of Barack Obama, with a banner headline reading, “Clinton Talks, Obama Balks.”

The paper’s accompanying editorial states:

At this point in the Democratic presidential campaign, we’re able to view the candidates by their actions. And we have found that Sen. Barack Obama would rather talk at the LGBT community than with them…

The fact is that Obama has spoken with the gay press only twice, and one of those interviews…was in 2004, before he became a U.S. senator. The other limited interview occurred after controversy erupted when his campaign added an anti-gay minister to his tour of the South. It has now been 1,522 days since Obama has been accessible to our community.

You can read the full interview with Clinton here, and CBS News’ coverage here. Queerty has more.

Obama on 3 a.m. phone calls if elected

(click image to play video)

Does this sound familiar?

MATTHEWS: Let me give you a scene that may face you in the next year or two, where the national security adviser calls you at 3:00 in the morning and tells that you a couple of jet—commercial jets have been hijacked. And they believe it is al Qaeda. And, as we know, al Qaeda always tries a second time. They tried for the World Trade Center after ‘93. They came back in ‘01.

They’re heading for the Capitol. What do you do?

OBAMA: Well, look, I am hesitant to engage in hypotheticals like that, because…

MATTHEWS: But it has been predictable.

OBAMA: Oh, well, the—I don’t think anybody predicted 9/11. And, so, we don’t know what kinds of circumstances are going to come up.

Maybe because we’ve heard it here:

DR. CONDOLEEZZA RICE: “… I don’t think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.”

What was Obama thinking? The 9/11 Commission discredited Rice’s comment, and Kristen Breitweiser at Huffington Post reminds us about “the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.”

As I’ve said before, Obama is clearly not ready for prime time.