That's called spin, my friend.

Spin this one: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/democratic_presidential_nomination-191.html#charts

Hillary peaked last fall and has oscillated around 45% ever since. Not bad, but not quite good enough.

Also, these national polls are largely meaningless, in terms of picking a nominee. They are also largely meaningless in terms of predicting the winner next November. Two months ago, Obama was polling at 25% in the Dem race. Last September, McCain and Huckabee, the last men standing for the GOP, polled at 15% between the two (McCain under 11, Huck at 4.5). Things change.

I don't have a big problem with Hillary hanging in there for awhile longer. There's some benefit with keeping the hate machine tied up with two targets. But it would be good to get things tied up ahead of the convention.

Gallup: http://www.gallup.com/poll/election2008.aspx

RCP: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ

Controversial? Sure.

A racist, anti-American hater? Not so much.

Mohammed's not the only one getting caricatured these days.

1. It doesn't explain why he stayed in the church.

Huh? Go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords/ and search for "Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?" You may not like his answer, but he sure addressed this question head-on.

2a. You almost got this, but again, go back to the speech. The line Obama used was It's that he spoke as if our society was static. Note the "he spoke as if" part. Rhetoric. So you and Obama agree!

2b. You ramble a bit here, but I think you missed the point with it just falls into ridiculous post-racial naivete. No. I don't know how this speech could be considered post-racial; it addressed racial issues head-on in a way that just isn't done very often. If wanting to move past the "racial stalemate" and then starting to frame up some rhetoric about what that might look like (complete with almost-too-poignant story) is naive, then yes, I suppose he's naive.

I read and listened to this speech again tonight; I continue to think it's a great speech.

Near Lake Turkana, Kenya, 1992.

I passed on the kidneys- that's for the elders, anyway.

I ride my bike to work because it's more fun than driving (and with a full work and family life, it's my only guaranteed exercise!).

But I had kind of given up on cycling as a legit. form of mass transit until I lived in Germany for a couple months. People actually ride bikes to get places, and they actually have the infrastructure for it! Well designed bike paths, bike lanes, bike parking (ranging from basic racks to secure lockers), you name it. I've never seen so many bikes in one place as I saw at the Heidelberg train station (yes, even compared to a college campus). Dudes in three piece suits, smoking pipes, pedaling to work via a path on an RR bridge over the Rhine, you name it.

We're not going to match that soon, because we are missing both the culture and the infrastructure (especially the light rail part; bikes and light rail were made for each other). But it's a vision worth aspiring to.

I got my first 'real' bike in the mid '80's from Harris Cyclery (home of Sheldon Brown). It was at the time (and may still be) a pretty small shop; it's one of those places that would indeed be a small footnote to the cycling world were it not for the internet.

Thank you; I was feeling like a sucker for paying down my home equity line on schedule.

But we liked the end product. Which I guess is why we have four of 'em scurrying around (I'm awake now b/c I just had to feed the youngest).