Stored somewhere in my collection of "Things I Will Never Get Rid Of" is my childhood copy of Little Black Sambo. It's pages are beyond well-worn.

Most would've trashed the Little Golden Book a long time ago.

Worth nothing as far as a collectible, I've held on to the book nonetheless. My brothers and I loved the book, especially the vivid illustrations of the tigers chasing one another round and round a tree, eventually melting into delicious butter.

Those of us who are old enough to remember Sambo standing up to the tigers are old enough to remember the "racially weighted past" that has dogged the book for decades. The association was enough to bring down a restaurant chain with the same name in the 1980's.

For many--and I'd venture to say most--the name Sambo brings up images of racism, not pancakes.

That being said, many (or most) would view the statement, "So Sambo beat the Bitch!" beyond poor form.

Per LA Progressive:

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obamas win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrats primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

(...)

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N-Fetch-It, darkie musical swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaskas Aboriginal people as Arctic Arabs how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description as well as the more colourful mukluks along with the totally unimaginative f**king Eskimos, according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.


Based on the sarcastic acceptance speech Palin gave last week, I can only bet that someone has a video somewhere of this woman pulling a George Allen.

Bring It On.

"Many people don't give a rip about politics and know as much about public affairs as they know about the topography of Pluto."

On that note--regardless of political affiliation--we can all agree with Tony Snow.

The former Bush White House secretary and conservative radio show host--lost his battle with cancer early this morning.

He lives on through his wife and three children.

I think we can all also agree that age 53 is too young, too soon.

Godspeed.

The ACLU of Greater Miami and the ACLU of Florida has united to formally request Florida Governor Charlie Crist €¦convene a task force of experts and lawmakers to respond to the public safety and housing crisis that the patchwork of residency restrictions for persons convicted of sexual offenses has created across the state of Florida.

Citing the makeshift village of individuals who are now living under the bridge of the Julia Tuttle Causeway, and the inability of governmental agencies such as the Department of Corrections to continue to track some persons who are still under supervision€¦as well as those who have completed their supervision€¦such situations have the potential to compromise public safety and will not resolve themselves without your intervention.

The requested task force would include representatives from law enforcement, probation, experts in treatment and management of persons convicted of sex offenses, victim advocates, and civil-rights advocates.

The ACLU urges Charlie Crist via written communication to take action where the Legislature has failed, underscoring this situation is not a crisis that can wait for the 2009 legislative session.

Residence restrictions are ineffective at protecting the community. Yet, these laws have proliferated across the state in recent years. (€¦) Research from the Minnesota Department of Corrections found that not one of 224 recidivistic sex offenses would have been prevented by residence restrictions. (Residential proximity and sex offense recidivism in Minnesota. 2007.)

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 93% of sexually abused children are molested by family members, close friends or acquaintances. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000.)

Also signing off on the June 2, 2008 letter to the Governor: Public Defenders of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida; Miami Coalition for the Homeless; Florida Council Against Sexual Violence; Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers-Miami Chapter; Florida Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers; Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Council of Greater Miami; Jill Levenson, Ph.D, LCSW, Lynn University.

Copies have been forwarded to the following: Walter Mitchell, Florida Department of Corrections; Carlos Alvarez, Mayor, Miami-Dade County; Manuel Diaz, Mayor, City of Miami; Matti Bower, Mayor, City of Miami Beach.

Read more at Smashed Frog.

Even this jaded Frog cannot believe the Clintons sunk as low as to control outside communications from compromising the sterile hall of Baruch College.
So before many of you go all misty-eyed over Hillary tomorrow as she delivers her parting shot ('er speech, SPEECH)--supposedly leaving the race for the Presidency--take a gander at just how Hills controlled her own supporters earlier this week.

I don't have too many "My God" moments. But this sort of behavior?

MY GOD.

With the elimination of Hillary Clinton from the race for the Presidency, we as a people have dodged a bullet of mythic proportions.

In Defeat, Clinton Graciously Pretends to Win
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 4, 2008; Page A03

(...)

On Tuesday evening, the crowd began to assemble at Baruch College in Manhattan for Clinton's non-concession speech. The scene was made to look festive: The Clinton campaign ordered 70 boxes of Domino's pizza for the press corps, and set up a cash bar for its fundraisers, or "honored guests." The honored guests were not in a partying mood, however. One older woman pointed at a reporter accusingly and said: "He is the one who destroyed our heroine!"

A crew from "The Daily Show" joined the party, and, hoping to keep Clinton in the race, struck up a cheer of "Four more months!"

Such an outlandish thing seemed almost plausible among the Clinton backers in the hermetically sealed Baruch gym. Below ground level, there was no cellphone or BlackBerry reception, and there was no television playing in the room. That meant that they could not see the network projections showing that, while Clinton had won South Dakota, Obama had won enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Instead, they listened to Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down."

Just before Obama officially clinched, the Clinton campaign issued a press release as if it were still in the middle of a nominating battle. "Wyoming Automatic Delegate Backs Hillary," the e-mail said. It didn't include the name of the brave superdelegate.

Terry McAuliffe, the campaign chairman, took the stage and read the full list of Clinton's victories, from American Samoa to Massachusetts. Introducing Clinton, he asked: "Are you ready for the next president of the United States?"

This brought laughter from the reporters in the back of the room, but Clinton induced the crowd to boo the "pundits and naysayers" who would have run her from the race. "I am so proud we stayed the course together," she told her backers, who interjected cries of "We believe in you!" and "Yes, we will!"

The campaign was over, and Obama had locked up the nomination after a flood of more than 40 superdelegates announced their support for him throughout the day. But in the Baruch College gymnasium here (the "Bearcat Den"), Clinton spoke as if she were the victor.

She and her husband and daughter took the stage, smiling, clapping and bopping to the beat. She said nothing about losing the nomination, instead thanking South Dakota for giving her a victory in Tuesday's balloting: "You had the last word in this primary season!" This, she said, confirmed that she had won "more votes than any primary candidate in history."

Clinton congratulated Obama -- not for winning the nomination, but for running an "extraordinary race." She recognized Obama and his supporters "for all they accomplished."

It was an extraordinary performance by a woman who had been counted out of the race even when she still had a legitimate chance. Now she had been mathematically eliminated -- and she spoke as if she had won.

(...)

Honestly.

One would think the Bosnia story or the JFK/Johnson reference would cause Hillary Clinton to stop and think before committing political suicide.

We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.

Wince.

Although this froggy Barack Obama supporter believes that this reference by HRC was an attempt to demonstrate that Bobby Kennedy still sought the nomination of the Democratic party at the time of his tragic death forty years ago this June, I also believe the comment was a bit more veiled than what is currently under the media microscope.

Being the name-dropper-associater that she is, Hillary's words just prior to the ill-conceived RFK reference referred to her husband, Bill Clinton and how he also had not yet garnered the presumptive Democratic nomination status until the month of June.

In my opinion, Hillary's misstep was her opportunistic way to link her husband--who role-modeled himself after the President and was once photographed as a young man with JFK--to the legend of the Kennedy family.

Her per usual self-serving words were made in sad effort to diminish the much discussed comparison of Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy, via use of a war room calculated statement made to lob the Kennedy mystique back over the campaign net to the Clinton side of court.

Not only was the the comment simply horrible bad form, Hillary Clinton may be the only Democrat to ever mortally ace her candidacy through citing of an event with such instantaneous immediate recall for every American who lived through that moment in history where hope was once again shot down.

In my neck of the Florida woods, fierce brush fires have swept the area since Sunday. High winds are feeding the fire like a hungry baby. Stories coming out of the highly wooded areas are crazy.

Fire shooting up thirty foot trees like a zipper. Residents bulldozing fences and digging trenches, anything to form a break line between them and the flames. Families--armed with garden hoses--spending nights on the roof of their home, washing down the shingles in attempt to save their property. Reports of persons standing alongside fire fighters, fighting back fire on three sides of their homes. Photos of just how close the flames came before quenched out, just in the nick of time.

Video of homes burning while families stand in the street, sobbing.

Before the fires went completely berserk, one area principal rode the school bus home with students Tuesday afternoon, to make certain kids arrived safely and were left with an adult. When flames grabbed hold of the road, making travel impossible, the bus was turned back around toward school. A fire shot up on the other side of town, finding its way to the parking lot of an area high school--while school was in session. Students--and those in the neighboring elementary school--were evacuated as the fire burned within their sight. To ensure the safety of students and school personnel, Palm Bay schools have been closed since Tuesday afternoon.

Many have been evacuated from the area and are in shelters.

Charlie Crist flew down today, Alex Sink and Charlie Bronson coming along to inspect the damage inflicted upon Palm Bay and the adjacent town of Malabar. Cocoa--also located in Brevard County--and northern neighbor Daytona--located in Volusia County--also have active fires burning.

Arson is suspected in the Palm Bay fires.

One hundred and sixty-two homes have been damaged or lost.

The area is dry, dry, dry and hot, hot, hot. The wind feels like someone is popping open a 450 degree oven and slamming it shut every few seconds.

What a lot of people could use right this second is one heckuva rain dance.

videos

We've done the math for weeks.

We've endlessly crunched the Clinton-Obama numbers, dependent on the impartiality of simple mathematical truths to guide Democrats through a primary season that is none other than historical.

Numbers grounded us as neutral determiners, as emotions ran high in both camps. The he won, she won figures kept the primary die rolling, parlaying the voter into a Donkey Trifecta--us, Obama and Clinton.

Mathematicians will tell you--numbers are not as calculating as one might think. Depending on the situation--as so well stated by Lewis Carroll--the different branches of Arithmetic --Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision--put a face on numerals, especially during a political season.

The numbers screamed in North Carolina and Indiana last night. With each figure representative of a vote cast by a single person, collectively the message has been sent.

The times for sums are over.

It's all about subtraction now....and graceful exits.

With her morning talk show schedule cancelled this morning, is Hillary Clinton planning to finally address the math jumping off the page for resolution?

Or will she add a branch to Carroll's Arithmetic?

Delusion?

Although she admitted having not pumped gas for years, that didn't stop Hillary Clinton from pumping the flesh at the pump and talking up her gas-tax moratorium.

Experts dispute the suspension of the gas tax, "arguing that cutting the tax would drive up demand for gas at a time when supply is tight, which would in turn mean that the price at the pump would drop by much less than 18 cents per gallon."

The Senator blames Big Oil for rising gas prices. "The oil companies keep making out like bandits, you know they have had the highest profits in the history of the world."

Really, Hillary?

Oil companies like ExxonMobil and BP Amoco?

Hillary Clinton's Presidential Financial Disclosure lists she and Bill's oil stock holdings--in both companies--to the tune of $50,001-$250,000 .

Just a FYI--

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) posted a 17% rise in first-quarter net income, driven by surging crude oil prices, earnings modest when compared with Shell's and BP's profits, which this week surged 25% and 63%, respectively.

So, while the press is dicking around with the Jeremiah Wright story, Hillary's running around sucking up our milkshake through her straw, reaping personal profit via America's rape at the pump.

Meanwhile, Americans are no closer to holding the Clintons accountable for full disclosure of the 2007 Clinton tax returns or the Clinton Foundation donor list.

Slurp.

We, the People are being drained dry by the Clinton Machine.

To understand why Barack Obama finally decided to sever his ties with pastor Jeremiah Wright, one only needs to reach for a copy of Dreams from My Father.

After meeting Wright for the first time, Obama recalls thumbing through a church brochure, reviewing the guiding principles of Trinity United. He described one particular passage that stood out for him.

"While it is permissible to chase middle incumbness with all our might, those blessed with the talent or good fortune to achieve success in the American mainstream must avoid the psychological entrapment of black middleclassness that hypnotizes the successful brother or sister into believing they are better than the rest and teaches them to think in terms of we and they instead of us."

That statement speaks of community, of not forgetting where you came from.

Whatever we might think of the now infamous Wright sound bites, the tapes were released by a third party. Although responsible for his harsh words, the pastor did not put himself under the sharp glare of the media. Obama did what most politicians would not, but what most Christians would. After expressing his extreme disappointment, he turned the other cheek.

While speaking at the National Press Club, not only did Wright seek out the media spotlight, his remarks expressed undercut the very principle that drew Obama to the church in the first place. Wright became all about Wright, hypnotized by his fifteen minutes of fame into believing that he was better than the we of who he preached.

He didn't practice what he taught others to follow and apply to their own lives.

For Obama--a Yes We Can type of guy--the betrayal rocked the foundation of his steadfast faith in coming together as community. To keep his vision for change front and center, he cut Wright loose.

By doing so he proved his faith to be his guide.

It is now America's turn to have faith in Barack Obama.

videos

I remember as a kid learning the New Math.

My parents couldn't figure it out and neither could I.

The old mathematical rules didn't apply anymore. The equations didn't quite figure with the old strategies.

In spite of my cognitive disconnect with the subject matter, there was no going back. I had to learn this stuff. My parents hired a math tutor and once a week, I grappled to understand this puzzling new unknown.

Hillary Clinton is sort of in the same place, befuddled and resistant to new mathematical theory.

As a result, she's become the John Nash of the political world by developing her own theories of mathematical dogma.

By dredging up the Florida and Michigan vote, HRC is attempting to convince us once again that her New Math is the only math that counts.

Clinton computes that through recognition of the unrecognized vote of the two sanctioned states, the total of the popular vote would prove acceptable to the her campaign, a total that adds by adding up in Hillary's favor.

The problem being, Hillary is the only one who is utilizing this New Math, sort of like my eighth grade music teacher-assigned-to-teach-Algebra.

You see, my parents found out years later, Miss Music wasn't qualified to teach the New Math. Just like me, she had no concept of the concepts of the subject matter. As a result, I missed one year of accurate instruction--a gap that set the stage of constant struggle for my remaining years as a math student.

The Foundation for my Math Future was compromised.

Hillary Clinton's continued insistence that the rules don't apply to her compromises the future of all Democrats. Her disrespect for the ground rules is blatantly obvious through her persistent effort to undermine the process.

If I just spin hard enough, the very rules to which I agreed will be rewritten. I'll get the sum total needed to win the Democratic nomination.

Her constant drilling of math reversed serves only to crack the Foundation of those who honor Democratic values.

With the entire world watching, if Clinton's New Math results in the deduction of the first viable political change agent to hit this country in my lifetime, she alone is responsible for the implosion of the constant formerly known as the Democratic Party.

Mathematician John Nash's work on game theory--the mathematical capture of behavior in strategic situations through analyzing competitions where one individual does better at another's expense--truly encapsulates the Clinton War Room strategy.

Nash once spoke about his personal struggles with mental clarity.

"I would finally renounce my delusional hypotheses and revert to thinking of myself as a human of more conventional circumstances and return to mathematical research."

Game over, Hillary.