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As a Barack Obama supporter, I can hardly
Attest to my neutrality
But the one state where Hill never sets foot
Is the one called reality.

VERSE CASE SCENARIO

Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at tonypeyser@yahoo.com.

 

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BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE

Hooray, it’s almost over, I hope!  Tomorrow the Democratic Party will have a nominee, I hope!  The divisiveness and the politics as usual will be over, I hope!  “Yes we can” finally get down to the business of a national campaign, I hope!

* * * 

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Welcome to Super Final Tuesday*. As the great philosopher Kenny Loggins once said, "This is It." _{* (at least until November)}

Montana and South Dakota are in the spotlight for the first time, since, well, uh, a long time. They are two of the many overlooked states in this process.

We are celebrating, well, perhaps, celebrating is not the right word, acknowledging about 40 years of the non-smoke-filled rooms in deciding a president. And this primary season has been the first in a long time where people who are traditionally not into politics are observing the process for the very first time.

And it's fair to say that many would love to change the process. Take power away from Iowa and New Hampshire. Set up regional primaries. Stop moving up the process so candidates are eliminated by January 3.

But one move has been proposed, and it's been almost exclusively from the Hillary Clinton campaign and her supporters: Caucuses are bad; primaries are better.
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A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Maria Allwine

Thirty-four Americans arrested at the Supreme Court on January 11, 2008 were found guilty on May 29 of violating a federal statute prohibiting "parading" at the Supreme Court, after a three-day trial that began on May 27 in D.C. Superior Court. The defendants represented themselves, mounting an impassioned defense of their First Amendment rights to protest the gross injustices of abuse, torture, and indefinite detention of prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. During the trial, each defendant gave his/her name and the name of a prisoner detained at Guantanamo, giving voice to those denied the most basic human right of habeas corpus and freedom from torture.

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A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

^{NY Magazine}

Scott McClellan has taken hits from both sides over the release of his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception. Bush Administration insiders portray him as a Benedict Arnold and "not the Scottie we knew." From the other side, most Bush critics can't forgive or forget Scott McClellan's lies at the Press Room podium, even though he now is bringing those lies to everyone's attention. Too little, too late is the general opinion.

But the significance of Scott McClellan's book, especially coming out at this time in an election cycle, might have nothing to do with the political insiders and pundits who have been quick to comment on it and disparage the author. Scott McClellan himself is not the story.

What matters most could be that Scott McClellan's words are reaching beyond the political junkies into the hearts and minds of the rest of America.

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BUZZFLASH MAILBAG

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Subject: Obama, Clinton, McCain And Some Other Place

Some years back, when I was managing movie theaters, my wife and I were sent to Beaumont Texas. There I ran a four screen cinema in the most economically depressed area we ever lived in.

After two years, my job was given to the downsized city manager, and I was out of work. I scrambled to find a way to keep going, along with many others.

Like many others, one day I found myself with a utility bill I could not pay, and faced a turnoff. I quickly found that many of the agencies that could aid people in other areas were too strapped in Beaumont to help.

Then I found Some Other Place. Many of the area churches had banded together to help others. They took the name from what was told to many applicants. "We don't have money to help you, try some other place." They helped us and paid the bill.

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I found myself listening to a talk radio show on NPR's Philadelphia affiliate WHYY today, which focused in part on the agonies suffered by families of American troops killed or seriously maimed in Iraq.

Left unsaid -- and this I think is the case in nearly all the reporting that gets done on the costs of the Iraq War that are being borne here in the U.S. by relatives of troops -- is the terrible reality that we're talking about the relatives of just 4,500 American servicemen and women killed, and perhaps 30,000 seriously wounded (not counting the hundreds of thousands suffering mental damage). Not to diminish that suffering, but it needs to be pointed out that by some accounts, well over 1 million Iraqis have died in this illegal, uncalled-for and criminal war.
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http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1382

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A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Mike Curtis

Some years back, when I was managing movie theaters, my wife and I were sent to Beaumont, Texas. There I ran a four-screen cinema in the most economically depressed area we ever lived in.

After two years, my job was given to the downsized city manager, and I was out of work. I scrambled to find a way to keep going, along with many others.

Technorati Tags: Reader Contribution 2008 Race Economy Need Service Desperate Some Other Place