McCain Obama Scuffle

One of the things always common in past elections was the ability to launch out with full attacks on your political opponent. George Bush and Karl Rove toasted John McCain’s ass in the 2000 election so bad that it left John McCain with a bad taste in his mouth. So bad a taste that he morphed into George Bush to be his political parties candidate???

It’s ironic that John McCain who was the champion of change back then is now the stay the course candidate for the Republican Party. Is it me or has the Straight Talk Express run off the road and slammed into the out house? There isn’t enough toilet paper to clean up this mess that McCain has re-invented himself into. One thing is certain is that the Maverick is apologizing for the simple fact that someone used the Christian middle name of Barack Hussein Obama over and over before John McCaine took the stage.

This isn’t a shameless fact or reasonable excuse to apologize for giving a man’s Christian middle name or is it? Politics is all about the bait and switch and with the internet being a non stop twenty four hour feed of news then this was a classic we have this great car for you hear and we have this nice self destructing Ford Pinto for you in your mental price range. The end result of the talking points is to be afraid of a man Christened with an Arab middle name. If that isn’t more Bush II politics I don’t know what is?

Throw that mud up against the wall and the low retention level voters buy it. “I saw it on the Internet that Obama is an Arab Muslim” so it must be true. For the record, emails do not count as the internet and sites like this one that actually point out facts. Next line of thought after the middle name drop is that Arab’s attacked America and we are at war with fundamentalist Muslims who are also Arabs. Follow the trail of domino’s and that is the Republican war machine come the general election. Telling you who to be afraid of and why you should vote for keeping America closed up with our own version of the Great Wall of China.

One of the talk radio stations I listen to for Imus in the Morning every single day along with Eagan and Braude at lunch time also has Jay Severin on for the drive home that is a political mind provoking talk radio station. 96.9 FM WTKK in Boston has a good mix of opinion in a very Liberal state but does not connect well with Liberal opinions for the most part. With the loss of Air America in the local Boston market there is no other broadcast available for good talk radio. That being said they have an excellent orator in Jay Severin who is also a national political radio talking point go to guy that has some clear points from a Conservative but Independent side of the aisle political theology. You don’t know how many times I screamed at him for being an idiot on the drive home and in the same respect agreed with his points on other issues. That is what politics is all about, getting you moved enough or angry enough to demand change and Jay points that out daily.

Jay backed Mitt Romney like I backed Joe Biden. They both dropped out and broke our hearts in doing so. All of our heart went into promoting our individual candidate. They both busted us but the future is bright. America has a better future ahead of us if we all continue the debate of all the issues that matter to us as Americans.

Tomorrow he will either enlighten me or be the cause for an accident on interstate 190 South. Jay Severin is a political guru that sees the mistakes of many of the candidates on both sides and his dislike of Juan McCain as he coined the phrase works for me right now and that is what I like to hear. I’m a blogger, I point the obvious out and this is one pissed off Republican sympathizer against McCain. That I can agree with him on.

You can check Jay Severin latest adventure into blogging here.

You owe me one Jay! Best wishes for you in the Blogosphere.

Papamoka

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Super Delegate & Super Heroes

If the race for President comes down to the Democrat Convention then super delegates will play a huge role in deciding if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be the parties nominee. That being said the Clinton machine is in trouble with a huge loss of super delegates. NBC and Brian Williams report that Obama has gained 35 super delegates in the last couple of weeks where as Clinton has suffered a net loss of five super delegates.

One of the super heroes of the civil rights movement John Lewis is also a super delegate. One other fact is that he has been and is still a very close personal friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton. Formerly, he committed to supporting Hillary Clinton in the convention but changed his mind to vote for Obama.

In the latest campaign setback for Clinton just days before crucial Democratic primaries in Ohio and Texas, Lewis said that his constituents back Obama, an Illinois senator, and that it was his "duty ... to express the will of the people."

Clinton had hoped that Lewis, who was severely beaten during civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s, would help her win the support of black voters. If he wins the White House in November, Obama would be the first black U.S. president.

Previously, Lewis said he was supporting Clinton, a New York senator, for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"Something is happening in America," Lewis said in a statement explaining his shift. "The people are pressing for a new day in American politics and I think they see Sen. Barack Obama as a symbol of that change."

Obama, campaigning in Ohio, said in a statement: "John Lewis is an American hero and a giant of the Civil Rights Movement, and I am deeply honored to have his support."
Asked about the switch, Clinton said she respected Lewis and understood that he has been under tremendous pressure. - Reuters

This was a tough personal call for John Lewis but it was the right one for the right reasons. John Lewis has fought for change his entire life and it could be said that he of all people can recognize the power of change in an Obama candidacy for President.

Hillary Clinton’s last chance for a knock your socks off debate in Ohio passed with nothing more than a he said, she said, minimalist attempt at true debate. The only outcome was the simple fact that Hillary looked like she was whining.

You’ve seen it here first in this political prediction. Hillary Clinton will follow the party line if she looses Texas and Ohio with a suspension of her campaign. Not because her chances to win the primary are over but for the simple fact that she too believes in change and her political party needs to win the White House this election for a far greater purpose than her own desire to be President. Her candidacy is strong but it isn’t strong enough to get the votes she needs to unseat Obama from the nomination of the Democrat Party.

Getting past this election cycle in Texas and Ohio, if Hillary Clinton suspends her campaign then Barack Obama would be a political moron not to pick Hillary Clinton as his Vice President choice in the general election. Beginning the campaign of two very brilliant minds and campaign staffs merged for one purpose and that would be CHANGE!

Politics makes very strange bedfellows and John Lewis made a tough decision that is admirable. Instead of following party politics and a friendship he surely cherishes, he chose the path most difficult to travel endorsing Obama and it was the wisest choice for someone that has believed in change for decades.

Papamoka

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Campaign Speech Writers Secret

One of the key things to any potential political candidate for President is a group of damn good speech writers. In every speech written is a message that you want to convey and apparently the Clinton campaign has a bunch of chimpanzees wildly typing and hoping that eventually War and Peace will come out. Hillary Clinton is in the mud flinging stage of politics and Barack Obama is if not far behind, catching up with her. Somewhere in the dust are the speech writers typing away with weeks ago news. Fire them ALL! Either the speech writers do not get it or the candidates do not get it. Either way, fire the speech writers. One can not blame the candidate for being wrong if the speech writers do not have a pulse on what is actually happening.

One word… BUSH! One of the idiotic and yet genius tactics of Bush/Rove campaigns was repeating the same message over and over again and neither of the Democrat candidates have clued into this fact. Other than “Change” for Barack which is working out fairly well and I have 35 years of experience from Hillary which is not working out so well there is a problem. Both candidates campaigns do not have a clue how to win this race with a knock out punch.

Don’t tell anyone other than the fact that you read it hear first at Papamoka Straight Talk about what you are about to read. This is top secret information from real people in the know on everything political. Pinky swear and spit on your palm and shake your mouse. Do it or you can not read any further into this post. I mean it! I have access to chain emails that will make your cats tail fall off and your dog will pee on every piece of furniture you own. Do it!

That was gross if you actually did it but I digress. The key to both candidates is not attacking one another but attacking the other guy running for President in the Republican Party. Shhhh! Close the door and pull the shades. John McCain is who they should both be going after and pointing out the differences between them both. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are two close to call opponents in this election and the only one that will actually win the race is the one that delivers the message against McCain best. Slinging mud against one another is like putting a bullet through your engine because the oil filter needs replacing. The horse power is dead but so is your transportation to work.

At this point in the political primary the differences of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton comes down to a popularity contest no matter what issue they are discussing. As a voter and a Democrat I’m good with either one. That is the dilemma and why they should be attacking not what they each stand for but what the Emperor in Chief part TWO John McCain does not stand for.

Both the Clinton and Obama campaign are welcome to contact the political writers of this site if they want a real speech written for them. We will provide the rough draft and how your handlers screw it up after that and let you deliver it is up to you. End result is that McCain is the target. Mike Jones, JW and myself Papamoka, have reasonable common sense rates. We see things as bloggers from a vast and different perspective from the outside that the candidates do not hear or are informed of inside the campaign.

Standard Disclaimer: Rates for candidates in parties not in our favor are adjusted upwards for adverse future social and economic consequences to the middle class and the poor. Be aware if you read political blogs that this may change your opinion on any candidate. Please see your medical doctor if you have the following conditions prone to Republican tactics…

Papamoka

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*****Krile Files has linked to this post...

Cross posted at Michaellinnjones.com

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The Audacity Of DoubleTalk

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES

The area of North Carolina I live in is used to be an area with large numbers of textile and furniture jobs. Several years ago I had to visit a local machinist to have some work done. While in his shop I noticed this huge machine sitting on the floor. He told me he was contracted to getting the machine in shape before its shipment to Mexico. With no pride in his voice he said that was the last textile machine in the county.

Several weeks ago I was in the local Walmart. I'm not making this up; it actually happened and the multiple ironies compressed in such a short time made me wonder iif some force was trying to tell me something. First, while browsing in stationary I hear on the official Walmart P.A. system a Bruce Springsteen song. "My Hometown" of all things. As I threw the graph paper in the cart I heard the lines that could be the anthem for this area:

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your
hometown

Then at the checkout I'm delayed because the couple in front of me is tossing some kind of form on the counter. They are not speaking English and presumably were from Mexico. They had a small infant in the cart. Finally, the cashier did whatever she was doing (they had multiple transactions). Upon asking the cashier what that was all about, I was informed that the transactions involved W.I.C.

So, someone who is presumably in this country illegally (and don't even TRY to convince me of the odds that they are not), working illegally, and yet is receiving government assistance. By the way, one of the REASONS there are immigration laws is to prevent people from coming into the U.S. and receiving government benefits. Try sponsoring or marrying a foreign national and doing things legally. Been there, done that....got a bunch of T-shirts.

To top the whole shopping experience off, I passed this same couple coming out of the Walmart Money Store, where I presume (again, and correctly I believe) that these folks used the savings from their W.I.C. benefits to send some money back home. Yep, that's what welfare benefits are all about....propping up the sagging economy of Mexico.

As a human being I cannot condemn people for trying to take advantage of circumstances to better their lot in life. My problem lies in the fact that NAFTA is the keystone that supports a bridge of false promises, both to Americans AND Mexicans. Let us not forget that while successful in engendering corporate profits, NAFTA has succeeded in eliminating Mexican livelihoods far more efficiently than American jobs.

Yesterday I read an article by Jake Tapper of ABC News, Obama Knocks Clinton, But Wouldn't Ax NAFTA:

Appealing to union voters in a dry wall manufacturing plant in this crucial primary state, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sunday afternoon said that even though he has repeatedly said the passage of NAFTA was bad for the country, he would not try to repeal it.

"I don't think its realistic for us to repeal NAFTA," he said during a town hall meeting on the economy.

He argued arguing that because the trade deal had been passed more than a decade ago, it was entrenched in the economy, and any attempt to repeal it "would actually result in more job loss ... than job gains."

In the fierce fight for votes here in Ohio, where NAFTA is not popular among many blue collar Democrats, Obama has repeatedly attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for the trade deal pushed by President Bill Clinton and passed in Congress in November 1993.

If one assumes that NAFTA has caused, shall we say, an allergic reaction in the U.S. economy, then it seems rather disingenuous to condemn it while at the same time emphasiing that doing anything about it would be too painful.

Senator Obama can make a talking point out of Hillary's husband and NAFTA. He can make a valid point about Sen. Clinton praising NAFTA in the past while condemning it now......

But what is the point if Sen. Obama is going to throw up his hands and say there's nothing he'll do about it since it's so "entrenched" into our economy? Tapeworms are entrenched too, but any expert will agree that getting rid of it is much healthier than living with it.

Bill Clinton got my vote 1992 based upon the notion that he would also bring "change." It meant a swing away from the worshiping at the feet of Wall St. and concentrating on the greater mass of people who actually live with the consequences of their own actions, let alone those of others in higher places.

Is Obama like Bill Clinton?....great at getting elected but suffering political amnesia as soon as he takes the oath of office? If that's the way it is, then so be it. The nation cannot afford it, but SOME level of honesty and promise-keeping must return or the whole thing is a joke.

And very few are laughing.
*******************************
Cross-posted at Michaellinnjones.com

Texas and Ohio Debate Cook Off

Hillary Clinton is running for the exits with her latest political strategy of attacking the new and improved Teflon Don Obama. Barack Obama will gain no ground on attacking the American version of the Iron Lady Prime Minister Thatcher that is Hillary Clinton. In the political cook book of Presidential politics there are way too many cooks in the kitchen and in that respect to0 many people in both campaigns tossing everything they have into the pot. When the original recipe called for boiling some water, adding plans to change America, debate plans, and simmer and allow public opinion to decide. Clinton and Obama are adding one too many Emeril-eske Bam’s (No offense Emeril) to this recipe! The end result is that the political dogs may sleep well with a full belly, the rest of us will be reaching for the Pepto Bismol or Alka Seltzer.

What you get with all of those unnecessary Emeril-eske Bam’s (Sorry Emeril) is fodder for the McCain political machine to pick up and run with come the general election. Just a note of interest, Karl Rove is in fact a political donor to the John McCain for President campaign. Don’t kid yourself, if a woman or a black man wins the nomination for President that the Republican war machine with its tap on hundreds of millions of corporate dollars will not pull any punches to get their man elected to the White House. When both of these Democrats are making Healthcare, Education, ending the war in Iraq and Energy consumption the base of their platform then that is the call to arms for Republican big business donors. That is the Republican pocket book in the nutshell. Do not pass Go, do not collect $2oo Billion dollars.

Having watched one clip after another it has been already decided by the main stream media that Hillary Clinton is done. I was not shocked to see it on many of the networks at how they all posed Senator Clinton in a negative light. MSNBC and Chris Matthews pretty much made toast of Senator Clinton. Keith Olberman continued the bashing relentlessly. With her message at most of her campaign stops more or less telling voters that Barack Obama is not the second coming of JFK or Jesus Christ and in doing so she lost some appeal to moderate voters. Attacking the issues is fine and good politics, attacking your opponent on the fact that he is a better public speaker comes off shallow and resentful. “The sky will open up, the celestial choir will begin to sing”… not getting it Hillary, not buying it. That was the MSNBC spin.

On February 26th, MSNBC is hosting the debate in Ohio with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. This is the Iron Chef debate where one of them is in the cook off of their life and the other has the latest Teflon pan set that pretty much tosses the sticky stuff out of the pan and at the opposing Chef. Hopefully, the viewers and voters will get to see a real debate on the issues and not another damn love fest.

What would ultimately be best for the Democrat Party is that both candidates of course debate their plans but stipulate the differences with their own plans and what Senator John McCain does not have to offer? Sell that and the Democrat political base will not be lost in the food fight of who can bake a better damn Health Care roast! Now that is a Papamoka Bam! (Sorry Emeril)

Papamoka

Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com and Bring IT ON!

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Blogging, Blog, Writing On Line

Many of the friends that read this site are from all over the world. With Papamoka Straight Talk being a national political blog we talk about and write about politics that is not on the local over the fence level. In retrospect, many of my readers are from the heart of New England, Worcester Massachusetts. Proudly, and locally we can boast politically that our states Lieutenant Governor is the former Mayor of Worcester, Tim Murray. For the record I think he and Governor Deval Patrick are cleaning up the Mitt Romney mess very well. But I digress. My five year old had breakfast with Lieutenant Governor Murray last year at a local event so that is my local connection to politics in Mass-a-two-sticks. A phrase I use often to describe the taxation status of Bay State residents and what we have left over after we pay all the damn taxes tossed on us.

Getting back to my original point… Many local blogs and people visit this site day after day and all of the contributors and I appreciate that. They are the reason we write day after day and offer opinion on national politics but in the same perspective I have built many personal relationships with people that link to this blog, write for this blog, and email me on their blogs latest posts. Some I have never met and some I think as my brother or sister with a DNA link with a high speed internet connection.

In the format that the “This Blog is Rated E for Excellent” I offer the following ten amazing reads, some local and others around the world. Punishment if you receive this award and have to pay it forward.

My number one "E for Excellent" award goes to someone that I consider one of my closest online friends and that is Michael Linn Jones who is also a contributor hear at Papamoka Straight Talk. No matter how many times I scream at him to write a book he refuses. Through him alone I personally have grown as a political writer and following his lead is why he is my number one E for Excellent nominee. If you love Mark Twain, one of my favorite authors of all time, then you will love visiting Michael Linn Jones.

My number two link "E for Excellent" is yet another group of folks that reached out to me and caught me when I was down and I will never forget that. Bring IT ON is a national site with writers from all over the United States that write from the heart on a moderate to left leaning perspective and each one has a unique view on national politics. Pick an issues and Bring IT ON has it coming up on the radar. My thanks to Jet and Cranky for believing in me and letting this writer cross post on their site. If you have a left sensing personality then Bring IT ON is a must visit site.

My number three "E for Excellent" is of course the Gun Toting Liberal. If you want to read real opinion and real thoughts then Gunny has it covered when it comes to national politics. I consider the GTL my mentor and my brother from another mother. We are kindred political and personal friends. I absolutely loved writing for the Gun Toting Liberal and the site is just amazing with all of the posts that make you think out side of the box. Visit the Gun Toting Liberal and be enlightened. Private message to Gunny, you’ve been tagged bro so pay up and you better link back here… LOL!

Number four for "E for Excellent" is all of my friends from Poli Gazette to Chells Roost to Pissed on Politics to Vim and Vinegar which reminds me...

Number five is of course Vim and Vinegar. If you want from the heart political news and opinion then she has it covered in spades! She also contributes when she can here at Papamoka and when she does it is always a great read. Just Wondering has a spin on politics with a Southern twist and she calls it like it is. Painting a fire in her words is what she does best on her site at Vim and Vinegar and yet another must read.

Next on my list for "E for Excellent" is at number six my good friend BJ at I See My Dreams. One of the things that makes me read a blog is the love of writing from the site owner. BJ is a retired news paper editor in South Carolina and I just love reading her posts. Liberal leaning and on topic with facts and links to back up all of her posts. In her heart is what is right and from her perspective is always an amazing read. I just love her work. Who loves ya BJ!… Tag, your it my friend! You can see her work at I See My Dreams and get addicted yourself.

Number seven "E for Excellent" who I will personally forever email all of the emails that demands you forward to twelve thousand friends or your head will pop off is I’m From Worcester. Photographs out of this world and local events and culture is her heartbeat. This is where I go to find out what is actually happening in the real world in Worcester culturally.

Claudia is an amazing person and she has a gift that she hasn’t tapped to its full potential as a blogger yet. That reminds me, I have to forward her this great opportunity to get a piece of the action from a dead banker with $26 million dollars in escrow with no family in Africa email…LOL! I’m thankful to the author and blogger of I’m From Worcester for putting Papamoka Straight Talk on the local scene. Visit I’m from Worcester and check out her insight and thoughts on life in Worcester. Thank you Claudia for including this little blog.

Number eight "E for Excellent" comes in as Worm Town Taxi. This a great blog by yet another on line friend. Jeff drives a cab keeps us all posted on the goings on in Worcester. He doesn’t just end it with what’s going on but has some great tips on the latest electronic gadgets out there. In-between all the great pictures he puts up on Worm Town Taxi is his personal thoughts and opinion where the local paper is way off the mark and that is why I read his posts daily. That and the fact that this is one site that has inspired me to write many national related posts. You don’t have to pay the fare for visiting the Worm Town Taxi but it is worth the ride.

Number nine is A View From Battleship Cove. This site has a great writer in Lefty covering everything that is Fall River in Massachusetts. If you want to know what is going on in Fall River then you need to read A View From Battleship Cove. My personal thanks go out to the site owner for contributing here and linking to this site where he has. If you want to know the truth about Lizzie Borden then Lefty at A View From Battleship Cove has it covered. If you like Fall River Politics, or love great photography of Fall River he has that nailed!

Number ten is my email friend that has linked to this site time and time again from Crooks and Liars. Mikes Blog Roundup is an inkling to small fish in the sea that are not on the radar. When it comes down to blogging there is no better sense of making it to the big time than being linked on Crooks and Liars. Mike has been kind to me at Papamoka Straight Talk and I do appreciate it more than he will ever know. If you want the latest politically the Crooks and Liars is a daily must see.

That is my list of ten blog’s that I think stand for Excellent in content and worth your reading. If I listed your site then I am immune from the tag so go get the blogs you think are worth reading. You can mention this blog and I would appreciate that.

If you clicked on any of the links here I thank you for visiting sites that are all friends and favorites of Papamoka Straight Talk. Each one is a gem and if you find yourself addicted to them then please let the writer know that. Comment on the sites and just let them know what you think. Bloggers do not make much money if any for the most part for what they write and this is just something we do. If it entertains you then that is a plus. Visiting their sponsors helps though. For all the people I listed today, tag, you have been chosen as an Excellent Blog and now it is your turn to pay it forward. Ten Blogs you love or appreciate.

Papamoka

Get Real Obama?

Politics in Washington D.C. is more about smoke and mirrors rather than just telling you yes or no in any given question that deserves a yes or no answer. Having watched many of the debates it is interesting to see many of the candidates on both sides of the Presidential race dodge, weave and outright not answer the questions asked of them.

It’s not often that you catch a politician just as confused as the rest of us when questions are asked and he answers as honestly as he can with the truth. Sometimes the art of politics is just being real and answering the questions truthfully.

Barack Obama is one of the few politicians in this race that will respond to a question directly. You may not like the answer but it is a direct answer with honest and sincere facts to back it up. Sometimes when you do that you get burned and can joke about it later…



I’m backing Obama for President simply because he seems like the kind of guy that would help a neighbor out. He seems more like us in the middle and lower class even though he is technically a millionaire. He seems like someone that you would enjoy watching a football game with in your living room on a lazy Sunday afternoon. He just seems more real than the alternative in the Democrat Party and the Republican Party.

Papamoka

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CNN Univision Democrat Debate in Texas

This is a rambling of the events in the debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Austin Texas. Please forgive any spelling errors and grammar. This is a play by play of the event that starts about roughly fifteen minutes into it. In this report there are some infrences from my own memory of the broadcast. This is the second time that I have tried this so let me know what you think…

ECONOMY

Obama: We don’t need an economist to tell the American people that our economy is busted and people are struggling. Our economy must be a priority of the next President. Cutting tax breaks for companies that outsource American jobs, giving a middle class tax break. Seniors making less than $50,000 should not have to pay any taxes. How do we get it done with the dominance of special interest?

Hillary: End the tax code loopholes. The wealthy have had their special interest President for the last eight years, it’s time for you. I want a trade prosecutor. Foreclosure crisis needs a 90 day moratorium. Freeze interest rates for five years. Clean green jobs with a $5 billion dollar investment. Infrastructure rebuilt creating thousands of jobs. Ending the war on scientist from Bush. Fund the future of an innovation nation.

A question on Immigration and stopping the raids on illegal immigrants

Hillary: All for stopping the raids, against the reality of parents taken away and children coming home to nothing. Failure of the immigration system is the problem. Cracking down on employers of illegalls. Fed help for border towns and cities to deal with the burdens on the system.

Obama: Immigration is a political football. Tone down the rhetoric and hate crimes against Hispanics. Border security and cracking down on employers. Policy change to fix the immigration system but the back of the line is where illegal immigrants must go. Years of delays have made the problem worse. Fines and higher fees for immigrating legally have become exorbitant and do not make sense. Improve our relationship with Mexico to ensure jobs in Mexico. Bush has no outreach to immigration policy.

BORDER FENCE

Finish it or kill it?

Hillary: We both voted for it. There is a smart way and a dumb way on border security and Bush just does not get it. There are places where a a physical barriers works and does not. Bush does not listen to the people on the borders. Technology innovation is the way to go. There are limited places where a fence will work like cutting through the middle of one of the colleges in Texas.

Obama: Agrees with Hillary. Bush is not good at listening to the people most affected by the border problem. Better border patrol and deal with the problem. Deporting 12 million people is not the answer. 12 million people are living in the shadows. Reform of immigration is important. Fight for the Dream Act which does not penalize the children of illegal immigrants born here from and eductation.

SPANISH LANGUAGE

This was a question on the English language only issue where as 120 million people will be of Hispanic decent in the next ten years…

Hillary: Learning another language is important. I do not speak another language. We have a common language but she is against a common language? Against English only in hospitals, court rooms and public places in government.

Obama: Everyone needs to learn English. All children should be learning a second language. It’s an opportunity to learn and communicate across language barriers.

OPPONENT SPEECHES vs. SOLUTIONS

The question was posed and stated in the terms of “Where’s the Beef” of Wendy’s hamburger fame. Texas logo “All hat and no cattle”.

Hillary: I have a lot in common with Obama and we both have run vigorous campaigns. We have differences and 35 years of experience. No accomplishments from Obama where actions speak louder than just words.

Obama: I provided tax reform, ethics reform, transparency in government, veterans meals paid for at Walter Reid. On getting real comments from Clinton camp. Voters are not delusional and every major newspaper in Texas has endorsed me. Let’s focus on the solutions and end the bickering. This isn’t just about policy as much as it is about inspiring people. Beyond racial and religion differences. I’m running for the people and not for more of the same.

PLAGIRISM

Obama: Governor Deval Patrick is a national chairman of my campaign. Speaking to the people is something I have done for two years. Deval Patrick gave me the lines and said that I should use them. This is silly season. Some of my speeches are pretty good. $4000 credit for college, change the tax code, end the war in Iraq. Let’s not tear each other down but lift up the people.

Hillary: Your own words? Lifting words? (Crowd booed) Elequent health care with 15 million people left out. We need a moratorium of foreclosure.

Obama interupts with: That will not work with entrenched opposition.

Hillary: I did healthcare when it was not popular.

Obama: My medical plan is not as good but politics has changed that. Cutting cost and prevention, bureaucracy, stats on plans and blah blah blah on specifics. Leaving 15 million out is simply not true. I credit Senator Clinton on her work in health care but the closed doors discussion ended her efforts. We need to change the politics of health care or we will be both here in four years discussing it no matter who is elected.

COMMANDER IN CHIEF

Hillary: Demands more time on healthcare. Obama Plan mandates fines and penalties against parents that do not inure children.

Obama: The mandate is on you. What works in Massachusetts has the poorest 20% fined for not having healthcare.

Hillary: Health care is important and the people have this as the number on issue. Your plan fines parents for not having healthcare for children.

Obama: My plan is affordable and parents that do not provide it are not being responsible parents.

COMMANDER IN CHIEF

Hillary: I’ve been to 80 countries fighting for woman’s rights. We face change in Cuba’s leadership. I support Kosovo and I’m more prepared on day one.

Obama: I would not be running for President if I could not be commander in chief. I will act against those that would harm America. Military needs to be prepared and armed to do the job. Bush has had poor planning. Using the military wisely. I did not vote for the war in Iraq. Our military is over stretched. We have to many eggs in the basket of Musharif and that is wrong.

RUNNING AGAINST MCCAIN

IS IRAQ BETTER BEFORE THE SURGE

Hillary: Iraq government needs to make changes. Their purpose is not fulfilled. Iraq government has failed to move. I will withdraw troops in sixty days. I will not give a blank check for the Iraq War. Our military is stretched to thin. Bring our troops home and Iraq owns their future.

Obama: Fort Hood troops pushed AlQuida out of Baghdad. McCain was wrong first and still wrong. $3.7 billion a week in the Iraq war. Iran is the biggest benefactor of this war. We need veteran care after service. Homeless veterans? $12 billion a month spent in Iraq with McCain saying he will keep us there for 100 years. McCain embraces George Bush with more of the same politics.

PORK BARREL SPENDING

Obama asked about $90 million in ear marks

Obama: Not true. The funds were for Google for government where all bids and awards are listed. More disclosure and transparency. I’m out in the open of government spending.

Hillary was asked about her $393 million in ear marks

Hillary: Obama supported the Bush tax cuts. Bush deficit is $400 billion this year. I’m for back to fiscal responsibility. Expire the tax cuts for the rich. Middle class tax cuts, ending the Bush no bid contracts. I’ve just published my new economic blue print.

SUPER DELGATES VS VOTERS WISHES

Hillary: We will win!

Obama: Primaries and Caucuses count. It’s the will of the voters. We need to have the government listening to them. There is a brick wall of government that can not be overcome. We need to knock down those barriers of government. We face a higher purpose and want our government back.

MOMENT AND TEST OF CRISIS

Obama: My trajectory of life. My single mom raising me alone with my grandparent from age two. Mistakes of course as a young man. But I’ve worked to bring people together and the American people just deserve better.

Hillary: I’ve lived crisis in my life. People already know that. They ask me how do I do it? With prayer and more. I have been through nothing compared to what America is facing. Kicks she has taken, faith and upbringing gets her up in the morning. I’m honored to be with Barack Obama. This election is about the American people. (huge applause)

That was the end of the debate. Who actually had one up on the other is not up to me to decide. I’m sure you can catch a CNN rebroadcast somewhere.

I apologize for all the typo’s and grammar errors. I was working from notes watching the debate. The full transcript is in the CNN picture link above. I'll be curious myself how accurate I was.

Papamoka

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McCain or Obama Independents?

It was reported recently that Senator Hillary Clinton would have to win 57% of the remaining delegates to unseat Senator Barack Obama from the Democrat nomination for President. For argument sake let us all pretend Obama is the candidate against the Maverick John McCain. This will be the Presidential election of the century.

In the race of 2000 John McCain was the Maverick against George Bush and that John McCain could have been President if it were not for dirty politics. The evil scientist Karl Rove worked that election as if they were taking over the world and low and behold he actually did achieve his goal. With eight years of George Bush in the Presidency we have seen our nation go to war, mega profits snickered at and justified because of the war, and a nation of separated people. Those with the big bucks, and those of us emotionally and financially exuberant to find a dollar in an old pair of jeans.

John McCain morphed into a George Bush Junior after the election in 2000 for one purpose and that was to be his political parties’ nominee in this election. What was once a Maverick is now a yes man for W even to the point of changing his mind on torture. Just a few weeks ago he admonished Mitt Romney for dancing around the issue of torture and rightfully so. As the only Republican candidate that was ever tortured he can speak from experience. What changed John McCain’s mind between that debate and this past week? Could it possibly be the deliverance of not one but two Bush President’s to his campaign?

Independent voters are not the Ross Perot nut jobs of yesteryear like one might think. They are people stuck in the middle that can’t stand the extreme liberalism and big government on the left. They are people stuck in the middle that can’t stand the extreme hands off ideology that if it is good for big business the consequences to America do not matter of the right. Independent voters are the key to this next election and they vote! How you get them to vote for you is the task at hand.

In McCain’s case it is a toss up. You could vote for the John McCain that used to be an independent Republican mind in the Senate or you could vote for the new and improved John me too W McCain. McCain is guilty of not being the real John McCain with every speech he makes. Rather than standing up for his own convictions he has subjugated himself to more of George Bush theology in government just for the chance to sit in the Oval Office in 2009. If he or his campaign staff looked at the current President’s approval ratings for the last four years he might want to reinvent himself back into the old McCain. Independent voters are not idiots and they don’t buy sound bites that sound like Bush all over again.

As for Senator Obama, his invention of himself is just what you see. With an oratory expertise he can make you believe that change is possible and that hope is alive. Obama’s message may not be full of details but the man has the facts and plans figured out. He isn’t slamming his opponents because he does not have to! When the message is right and the people want to hear more of what he has to say then that is the ball game for many Independent voters as well. Republican crossover voters and Independent voters will put Barack Obama in the White House in 2009. Personally, I would give more credit to the Independent voters. That is the key to this election.

Come the general election, John McCain will run for the center with all he has to give. Once more he will be changing who he really is as a candidate for President. In doing so, he will morph into not the die hard conservative and become a moderate candidate that gives a lousy speech from cue cards and teleprompters.

Barack Obama will pull all his abilities together to speak without any assistance and what you will hear will be from his heart and soul simply because he believes whole heartily in the words he speaks. President Obama will bring America back to where she should be and that is right in the middle but with a concentration of helping American’s first and foremost.

Papamoka

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Our Next President

With the fading days of the Hillary Clinton campaign proven in the latest win in Wisconsin today by Barack Obama it is almost a given fact that Senator Clinton will not be our next President. This is the 9th state in a row to vote overwhelmingly for Obama and that is a hill that Hillary and crew can not overcome. She has lost the inspiration game of politics but that does not count her race for President completely out of the election process. Senator Clinton still controls her delegates to the convention that will decide the Democrat nominee for President.

Toss aside all the hype over the convention handing the nomination to the second place winner, aka Senator Clinton. That will never happen! Yes delegates can change affiliation at the convention but the likelihood of Senator Clinton stealing the convention at this point is slim to none.

All of the pre-election poll numbers to date have been full of bad numbers and the end result is that they were way off the mark and the end result in every single state. I’m chucking the polls into the composting bin and hope the bacteria can stomach them. Same thing goes for the main stream media and the run up for each state and then they look stunned like a deer in the headlights when the actual voting results come in. If Tim Russert says one more time that he did not see this coming in one more state I’m going to throw a brick at my television.

Watching the Obama speech from Houston, Texas was amazing on the eve of his Wisconsin win. Where people have said that he speaks in parables of hope without substance I would have to strongly disagree. Apparently, they have never seen or heard one of his speeches. He touched on Iraq, he touched on health care, he touched on education and he touched on jobs being outsourced and forever lost to Americans. Barack Obama doesn’t list out for you paragraph by paragraph what each of his issue plans are but tells you in concise words how we can change the future in just a few simple inspiring words. Any candidate that got up on the stage and said this is my plan for healthcare in America, page one… You would be bored off your rocker and look for the gun to shoot yourself with! If you think he doesn’t have anything to say then you have never truly heard him give a speech.

Watching the speech he gave today gave me a sense of hope for our nation. If he can inspire the up and coming generations to get involved with what our nation is all about then that in itself is an American miracle. Camelot revisited once more if you will. One of the mistakes that the Clinton campaign has made is attacking hope in the Obama message and then trying to steal the message of change. You can’t have it both ways. Bill Clinton’s political machine is busted and so is Hillary’s by association.

Looking at the voting numbers from state to state change is coming and McCain does not have a chance of getting the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One of the numbers in Wisconsin surprised me that Obama at one point had more Democrat votes than all Republican votes combined. That margin of votes has held true state after state and McCain does not have the crossover potential that an Obama campaign would. If you include the Clinton number of Democrats voting it is more than three to one in favor of the Democrat candidate. This is just the primaries!

None of the big boys in the main stream media are betting on the general election but I am putting my neck out on the line that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America and he will beat Senator John McCain by far. Then again in a mega landslide if he picks Hillary Clinton as his Vice President.

Papamoka

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The REAL Dirt On Barack Hussein Obama

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES

Let's just get this over with. Political campaigns are filled with the most childish innuendo...like knocking someone to the ground while batting eye lashes and giggling. It's not exactly straightforward. And so, having gleaned some of the aspirsions cast against Senator Obama, I thought it prudent to just list them all. That way there is no more guessing, no more sleight of hand.

Here is the list. Hopefully you will find it complete. However, I understand much more will be revealed if Sen. Obama continues to capture the attention of the American people.:

1. OBAMA CHOSE HIS NAME AT BIRTH!

This may be hard to believe, but if you don't, just ask Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh. They KNOW what they're talking about. As baby Obama left his mother's womb, his first words were, "I want to have Hussein as a middle name!"

2. OBAMA DEMANDED TO BE MUSLIM AT BIRTH, TOO!!

It is a little known fact that right after baby Obama demanded Hussein as his middle name, he also specified that he be raised as a Muslim.

3. OBAMA RUINED HIS FAMILY LIFE AND IS A CONTROL FREAK

This allegation is obvious due to the fact that at age 3 or 4, young Obama kicked his father out of the house and forced his mother to move to Tanzania, or Indonesia, or someplace where weird people live. People who use names like "Barack" and stuff like that.

4. He drinks water from PLASTIC BOTTLES!!

5. He has hugged women WHO ARE NOT HIS WIFE!

6. He used to SMOKE CIGARETTES!!!

7. He has recited the pledge of allegience ..... AND HE DIDN'T EVEN WRITE IT!!

8. He is a LIBERAL who believes that the Constitution ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING!

9. He doesn't put shopping carts back where they belong EVEN IF THERE IS A CART CORRAL NEARBY!

10. He has refused to GO QUAIL HUNTING WITH VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY!!

Thank God we at least have another 11 months of a God-fearing, pious man in the White House who is not intimidated by terrorists (whether they be foreign or domestic critics), due process of law, common sense, or any interference with the Presidential Sceptre by some dead crackpots having written a bunch of luney ideas on a scrap of paper and calling it a Constitution.

This nation doesn't need some egghead like Barack Obama as president. No, we need someone with the stalwart dedication to his goals like President Bush, no matter how deranged they may be. We need a fighter, or at least someone willing to let someone else fight for him.

America deserves order; it deserves protection from itself whenever it goes off on one of these wild tangents involving "representative government" and other such nonsense.

Now that you know the truth, the half-truth, and nothing approaching the truth.....you are better equipped to deal with the election process.

It's the least I can do.
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Solar Power Research

Solar Power is going to be a big part of your future life whether you like it or not. With the cut throat politics of big oil, the future is going to be very different. America much like in the past will change the world with our direction. Not from some group in some far away lands demands, but on our own terms. American’s are a funny people, we will buy your product on our terms if it is affordable and reliable. That includes our energy needs. While the nice folks sitting on mega trillions of oil think that they have “We the People” over their barrel, creative Americans are turning those same barrels into wood stoves and home made bio-fuel tanks.

I love the New York Times and I have to thank my friend Jeff from Worm Town Taxi for turning me onto this story. The New York Times writer could not find his back side from his elbow on this topic. Rather than reporting on the true research they condemn solar power as a fad for this generation. Different paper, different generation but the same is true, Solar power is not good enough once more over at the NYT…

A link between Moore’s Law and solar technology reflects the engineering reality that computer chips and solar cells have a lot in common.

“A solar cell is just a big specialized chip, so everything we’ve learned about making chips applies,” says Paul Saffo, an associate engineering professor at Stanford and a longtime observer of Silicon Valley.

Financial opportunity also drives innovators to exploit the solar field. “This is the biggest market Silicon Valley has ever looked at,” says T. J. Rogers, the chief executive of Cypress Semiconductor, which is part-owner of the SunPower Corporation, a maker of solar cells in San Jose, Calif.

Mr. Rogers, who is also chairman of SunPower, says the global market for new energy sources will ultimately be larger than the computer chip market.

“For entrepreneurs, energy is going to be cool for the next 30 years,” he says.
Optimism about creating a “Solar Valley” in the geographic shadow of computing all-stars like Intel, Apple and Google is widespread among some solar evangelists.

“The solar industry today is like the late 1970s when mainframe computers dominated, and then Steve Jobs and I.B.M. came out with personal computers,” says R. Martin Roscheisen, the chief executive of Nanosolar, a solar company in San Jose, Calif.

Nanosolar shipped its first “thin film” solar panels in December, and the company says it ultimately wants to produce panels that are both more efficient in converting sunlight into electricity and less expensive than today’s versions. Dramatic improvements in computer chips over many years turned the PC and the cellphone into powerful, inexpensive appliances — and the foundation of giant industries. Solar enterprises are hoping for the same outcome. - New York Times

This is where the article should have ended but it didn’t. You can read the rest of it if you like but it is more or less if you can’t have the whole loaf of bread then you don’t want even one slice.

When it comes to our nations energy needs in the future you can no longer put all your eggs in one basket. You need to look at all options and Solar Power is just one option of many for your individual energy needs. There isn’t a person involved in the real life business of solar power that will tell you it will serve all of your energy resources. That kind of science and technology just doesn’t exist… YET! When you think of solar power you have to think of your vegetable garden, it offsets your grocery bill with food grown by your own hand that you know will help your family budget. It’s only the vegetables. As in the old commercials from long gone by political campaigns “Where’s the BEEF?”

The beef is in the current research that will mass produce the solar panels to the point where Joe and Joanne Sixpack can afford to install a solar panel on their home. That is where Moore’s Law meets the common consumer. That is where engineers and scientist break the back of OPEC and pretty much look at locations in the middle of the desert here in America with sunshine year round that are not in the Middle East for our nations electric power needs.

Solar Power was not a fad in the 70‘s, or the 80‘s, or for that matter in the 90‘s. It is and will be part of your life, it is only a question of what part it will be producing power for your families needs. Ten years from now you could probably pick up a whole house solar panel unit that you plug into your outdoor outlet that powers your entire home from Home Depot or Lowes. Then again Walmart might have those nasty falling prices and outsource the American designed technology to China to mass produce it. Any way you look at it, the technology will be cheaper and our nations energy needs will come from somewhere else and solar power is just one piece of the puzzle.

The only thing that will hold solar power back is the people most afraid of it and how much of their bottom line it will take away. Those are the people that this story in the NYT’s should have looked at more closely. That is when you will smell the sense of smoke in the air and new patents for new energy smoldering on the bonfires of big energy R us. Capitalism at its worst.

Papamoka

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Back To The Future: The Economic World Of Hunter-Gatherers

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES

The story of human social evolution goes roughly as follows: for eons people were hunter-gatherers, collecting food while moving from place to place. Such a life was VERY in tune with nature, resulting in very short life spans. Nature, after all, is not that friendly.

Then people discovered they could grow their food in one place. This was called farming. This method lasted to modern times, although in a very mechanical and corporate form.

The industrial revolution, starting in the 19th century, led more and more people to forsake farming for an urban existence. This also created a complex co-dependency between industry and those who worked in them.

Today in Bloomberg.com, Rich Karlgaard has this piece, THE DEEPER ROOTS OF ECONOMIC ANXIETY. I highly recommend the article, as well as the comments left by readers. They are quite revealing.

The U.S. economy is in better shape than the pundits, polls and press say it is. I don’t believe America is in a recession now. I don’t think one is coming. After eight months of anxiety and stock market turbulence, if the bad event hasn’t happened by now, I doubt it will happen at all.

The Fed is on the case. Bargain hunters like Warren Buffett are moving in, signaling a bottom. Small business is curiously robust despite the credit crunch. Employment is strong. Every commercial flight I’ve taken this year has been oversold.

Much as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would like us to believe 2008 is a trap door to the 1930s, they’re wrong.

So, there IS no recession, there is not GOING to be a recession, and all it takes is one man...Warren Buffet...to signal the bottom of something that isn't happening. Unless, of course, one considers Wall Street as the American economy. With all due respect, rather than Senators Clinton and Obama wanting us to believe 2008 is a trapdoor to the 1930's, it could also be said that Mr. Karlgaard's words could have been written by Calvin Coolidge or Herbert Hoover. In the economic funhouse that set up its tent in the 1970's, lip service is paid to the vast pool of unwashed consumers. The REAL decisions; the true engine of the economy, are those of the "investing class" who are better-educated, and therefore wiser, than a bunch of chocolate cherry-chomping chumps watching TV.

Cheap production technology combined with vast pools of talent, capital and consumers around the world guarantee a world of “extreme competition” (to borrow a McKinsey phrase) and ever-accelerating business-model evolution. What could slow it down? Nothing I see. Not even war.

What goes for companies goes for careers. Your career and mine can be disrupted more easily than before. The best personal career strategy is to assume that our jobs will be disrupted. Everyone needs a Plan B.

If you and I face up to these facts and trends and likelihoods, the world will look scary but thrilling, and full of opportunity, too. If we cover our eyes or imagine that politicians can protect us from change, the world will look scary, period.

As my MIT Sloan School host on Wednesday, Howard Anderson, likes to say: Welcome to a world where you will eat well or sleep well, but not both.

Question for the day: Economic populists such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton call for "change," yet ironically claim they can protect Americans from change. In a world where ideas and capital can move anywhere in the world at the speed of light and flock to cheap production technology and talent, what protections against the future can politicians give us?

If one is to accept the premise that this "new" economic mold is to be unquestionably adapted to, there lies a problem right on the surface. Hunter-gatherer mentality requires cooperation, whereas capitalism requires competition. As Herbert Hoover liked to say, "A man who builds a factory builds a temple. And the man who works there, worships there." Certain forms of capitalism require slavish devotion from labor. And slavish devotion TO the concept that all taxation is evil; that spending is good as long as it's not paid for, and acknowledgment that certain well-educated experts know all the pitfalls of capitalism. Of which there are none, of course.

It is amusing to hear the phrase "creative destruction" in the context of economic activity. If such were applied equally across the board it might make sense. The problem is, some destruction and creativity is more equal than others.

As regards Mr. Karlgaard's Question of The Day, economic populist is synomous with communisim to the investing class. There is great offense taken at "class warfare," even if it's been going on forever and it doesn't take an Einstein to know who has been winning. Senators Clinton and Obama offer some form of change....their policies do not differ all that much. However, they DO differ from the status quo, which as we all know is Latin for "the mess we're in." The protections that government can give us against rampant unchecked corporate supremacy is the only hope the 95% of the population have for a future that MIGHT be brighter.

Welcome to a world where you will eat well or sleep well, but not both. This is a credo for hunter-gatherers. There is no stability, only uncertainty. In a Sim-City economic theory bubble it sounds so exciting, so dashing. It prompts me to ask why some people get so incensed at "big government" (which they should) but bow to illusory "market forces" when it comes to big corporations. At least with big government you have SOME rights as a human being.

I believe that this nation cannot withstand another four years of Bush economics (a contradiction in terms anyway). Should a Democrat sit in the Oval Office with the same fealty to large corporate donors then we're confronted with the choice this November between a moderate Republican and a moderate Republican.

In 1942 a Japanese general warned that they were suffering from "victory disease." Everything was going too smoothly; every goal was met and all opposition crushed. Such can be said for dedicated adherents to the status quo.

As regards making a choice between eating or sleeping, it's best to be reminded of an old saying, "The castle is safe as long as the cottage is happy."
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Special Olympics Passion Plunge

It’s Februaray, it’s 23 degrees outside in the heart of Massachusetts and a great day for a quick swim in Indian Lake. At first glance you would think the 76 people that took this dip were just nuts! Why would anyone in their right mind do that to themselves and the only logical reason is because they are simply just nuts? Nuts about the local kids that participate in the Special Olympics.

Sunday, February 17, 2008
76 take plunge for fundraiser
By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF


WORCESTER— Tom “Smitty” Smith of Auburn stood bundled up on the frozen surface of Indian Lake yesterday afternoon, watching as the Worcester Fire Department Dive Team cut an opening in the 13-inch-thick ice with chain saws.

Mr. Smith said he had no intention of leaping into the slushy, frigid water for the Special Olympics Passion Plunge fundraiser, but he was pleased to see that lots of others with less sense came out to do so.

His 15-year-old son, Peter, is a Special Olympics athlete who competes in swimming and cycling events.

“I’m very thankful for all these people here,” Mr. Smith said.

The coach of the Special Olympics team on which his son competes, Greg M. Engvall, was standing nearby and offered, “I’ve got an extra suit in case he changes his mind.”

“I hope it’s a wet suit,” Mr. Smith shot back.

Mr. Engvall, wearing a tall white chef’s hat, said his team of some 50 Special Olympics participants simply couldn’t afford uniforms, training facilities and travel expenses without the annual fundraiser held each winter in four locations around the state. He estimated the team’s expenses add up to more than $5,000 a year.

“Because our team keeps growing, our expenses keep going up, but, fortunately, the number of plungers we have today is more than ever,” he said. - Worcester Telegram & Gazette

One thing I’m sure of, as much as I love what the Special Olympics is about, I would rather be a donor to the cause than a participant in the February swim fund raiser. God bless the brave souls that took the dive. It is literally chilling me to the bone just thinking about it. Check the article out from the T&G for more great pictures.

If you are up for it you can still register for the 2008 campaign at Massachusetts Special Olympics Passion Plunge. Plungers or Chickens, all are welcome!

Papamoka

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