I just got off the phone with my Mom. She is an active 85. She describes herself as a moderate Republican who is a registered Democrat. I'm not sure why, she hasn't voted for a Democrat since Truman. She stunned me tonight by saying she would consider voting for Barack Obama.

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Obama has opened up a sizable lead and it is the lead story. Here are some quick exerpts and links for your pleasure. No bounce Mr. Penn?

LA Times

For Obama, an apparent bounce after all
Manchester, N.H. -- The latest poll in New Hampshire shows that, as most expected, Barack Obama did benefit from his solid win in Thursday's Iowa caucuses.
The survey, conducted for CNN and New Hampshire television station WMUR, gives Obama 39%, Hillary Clinton 29%.
A comparable poll released Saturday had shown Obama and Clinton tied at 33%. That helped prompt a release from Clinton strategist Mark Penn asserting that Obama's Iowa victory had not significantly benefited him in New Hampshire.

Joe Lieberman, (I) announces his support for John McCain. The first thing that popped into my head was the Emperor's words to Luke in Return of the Jedi.

"I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon! Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete."

This will be short with the highlights, all from this morning's CNN story.

"Being a Republican is important. Being a Democrat is important. But you know what's more important than that? The interest and well-being of the United States of America,"  Joe

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Arrr ye Mateys,

Back from a year in the bilges not talkin to ye and all, I'd like to offer me humble apologies for not faring thee here, but Talk Like a Pirate Day comes only once a year ye landubbers! So for ye get yer sails all a bind, let yerself ponder how a pirate might view some recent news.

Blackwater. Arrr, a name after me own liking I must say. Rebounds of saber's clashes and cannon ball ruin! Long known, these players of independent means have had their way in this waaar, providing the security that the King's men could not. Not so unlike pirates, this community of aaarmed mercenaries thrives on the occupation, reaping the spoils and the bounty of the bloody conflict.

Follow me below to the bilges if ye dare....

I guess we should have seen it coming. BillO has been getting all the dark glamour lately as a result of his Jihad against DailyKos and the big guy is feeling left out of the loop.

I'm sure the rest of the gang of Hannityites is cranking up the hate a notch or two as well. Witness the churlish Michael Savage conjuring secret conspiracy theories surrounding Chief Justice Roberts as outlined in this recent diaryby dsnodgrass.

So the Grand Poobah has to play a little catch up. From his July 31st show, we get this wonderful little reminder.  Pitiful.

They're the ones that created this situation. They have aligned themselves with the enemy. They continue to align themselves with the enemy. They won't admit it, obviously. The enemy kills more soldiers, their spokesmen here in the U.S. are the Democrats. When we kill more of the enemy, the Democrats are silent and they say nothing. But when we have reports of, you know, another IED, or pictures of a car on fire -- then the Democrats assume the role of media PR spokespeople for Al Qaeda.

I know, I know. No one has dial up anymore! This is America! Well, I do. My only option is Satellite and it is too expensive for too little reward in speed.

The last few days have been heady indeed. The whole O'Reilly battle is just wonderful and Gonzo has gone gonzo and the debate was just over the top and on and on. I was street performing downtown tonight and it was slow. I checked my email on my phone (not an iPhone, hope you're loving yours though) and got a Media Matters update about the billObattle. So I went to Kos for a quick check in and got an error message about lack of memory. FP loaded anyway with text, and I got a little glimpse of what was going on. Way cool. (would have been cooler on an iPhone...damn you kos...no, no, I take that back, I meant, glad you have one)

Soon enough, a large party from a restaurant let out and I went back to work, knowing I would be home in a couple of hours and could catch up on all things Kos from my trusty little Mac.

Well, I'm home. The heavy use of YouTube imaging is just killing me.

Follow me sloooooly below the fold

Thanks to my last excursion into local and state politics, I am growing more and more aware of how important things are here down on the ground, so to speak. And how fun and energized.

I was inspired this week by the Netroots Fundraising Drive to start my own fundraising page for Heath Shuler NC 11. He is running against Republican Charles Taylor. I had been to ActBlue once to donate during a Lamont net drive, but didn't realize at the time that people could create their own page, for their own candidate. What a great idea. I know, I know, I'm a little slow but I try.
My Heath Fundraising Page
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I ran across an ad for a State Representative candidate the other day in my local newspaper's online edition.  I noticed right away that there was no party affiliation listed in the ad, just a nice picture, a few words and a link to his web site. His name is Charles Thomas (R) and he is running for a seat in the General Assembly representing North Carolina's 116th District.

I decided to ask if my suspicions were true, that he has been hiding the fact that he is a Republican, and began email exchanges with Thomas and his Democratic opponent, Douglas Jones. It turns out that both candidates for NC 116 were sticking to the same formula. DO NOT reveal party affiliation on your web site. I was shocked. So I did a little research on the subject and found that these two candidates seem to be shopping the 20+% or so of voters identified as unaffiliated in their district. It turns out there are more. My research was based on a simple metric - could you identify the candidate's affiliation on their home page? More below the fold...

Two things happened today that have convinced me that, almost overnight, The Change has come. THEY have turned on the President. These are two little stories that have seriously shocked me. First, I witnessed a big crack in Presidential support from a right wing coworker and then I heard of a near epiphany from my winger in-laws. Something has happened.

I'm 55, my Mom is 82, I'm a Democrat, my Mom is a Republican who thinks O'Reilly is just right on and the President is the best thing since Froot Loops. I am writing this in a motel on my way home from a lovely week long visit with her and my brother and family after too many months apart. (If you guys read this ....great trip huh? What fun! Love you so much!)

Staying with Mom allows for near constant exposure to Fox News, so after a week of observation sprinkled with a few exchanges, I have a lot to chew on.

The following comments aren't long, but if you have a Republican Mom, maybe we can help each other with some ideas.

My wife and I just returned from Markos and Jerome's CTG Asheville stop. GREAT turnout, terrific questions and answers. Very impressive. Our wonderful Malaprops book store hosted with grace, energy and aplomb. Way to go guys.

If you are in or near a spot on the tour, do yourself a favor, GO!

GordonNC
had a live blog going for awhile. We're a great city, come visit. Our local arts and events weekly, the
Mountain Express
had this to say:

Moulitsas says he insisted that Asheville be included in the book tour, even canceling one of his few weekends at home with his family, because "I keep hearing good things about the progressive community in Asheville."

 Markos and Jerome, thanks for coming, hope we treated you well.

Way back in 1973, I was stationed on a Submarine that was in the shipyard after we returned from a 3 month tour beneath the Atlantic.  This was a time when President Nixon was starting to get into his Watergate mess and it was being finally revealed that the U.S. had been secretly bombing Cambodia since at least 1969.

Two fellow sailors and myself started keeping a log, or diary if you will, outlining our objections to this outrage and indeed to the war itself. We contributed to this diary on lonely nights when we were keeping watch at the top of the gang plank.  Armed with a .45 and a mighty pen, we built quite a diary over a couple of months that we kept hidden deep under a pile of foul weather gear. We called it the "Top Side Graffiti Log".