Crossposted at [REDACTED]

894 out of 899

Much has been talked about, with respect to John McCain's time at the Naval Academy.  As someone who also went there, I want to express my deep admiration for John McCain's accomplishment of graduating 6th from the bottom.

In 1988, I graduated from the United States Naval Academy, exactly 30 years after John McCain.  In my graduating class of around 1100, I graduated dead in the middle, in the low 500s.  By all measures, I was an average Midshipman.

How was my class rank calculated, and why did class rank matter?

Class rank is a combination of several factors:

1. Academic Performance

2. Professional Performance
   
3. Leadership Performance

There may be several more factors, and they may have changed since I graduated 20 years ago, but those should still be the major areas that are used to calculate class rank.

Why does class rank matter?  

Because it determines what you get to pick for a job when you graduate.

What's the most sought after job?

Naval Aviator.

After seeing the following diary on Dkos, 600,000 Ohio voters subject to GOP caging. . . I had to pass along another diary from EENR that seems to be just the opposite.

The following is from Karita Hummer at EENR.

Federal law and the U.S. Constitution to trump Ohio Election Law.

Lo and Behold!  Voting Progress from Columbus! Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner gives us good voting rights news for a change.

In a Press Release issued from the office of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, it was announced that she was sending clarification to local Election Boards that " that 60 day notices sent by boards of election to voters that are returned as undeliverable cannot be used as the sole reason for canceling an Ohioan's voter registration."
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/PressRele ases/2008%20Press%20Releases/20080905.as px

More below...

For quite sometime I have been asking people here why are you not tough enough? Why are we sticking to issues only when the Republicans want a fight on character. Well now we have the press ticked off at the McCain-Palin campaign and it is time to get tough.

In the instant flashlight of celebrity, the rumors, allegations, and "glamor" surrounding the Palin pick has obscured the most frightening development of the last two weeks.  It is pretty clear, by now, that John McCain has either consciously sold out to the theocrats in his party or, worse still, is not able to keep them under control.  By choosing a rabidly conservative hard-core Christian fundamentalist as his running mate, the table is set for a nightmare scenario in which she ascends to the Presidency.

The talismanic issue here is that of creationism/intelligent design.  I don't for one second believe that the evangelical nuts who seem to be in control of the Republican party actually care for a second about what kids are taught regarding the origins of the cosmos and the human race.  No, rather this issue is a deliberate attack on science in particular, and the primacy of expertise and established fact in general.  The insidious notion that we should teach creationism "alongside" evolution as if both are equally plausible is as disingenuous as it is dangerous.

Yes, Barack is a once-in-a-lifetime inspirational leader.  Yes, he clearly wins on every policy issue.  Yes, the war must end.  Yes, the economy is disastrous; but more important than anything else in this election is the preservation of the separation of church and state.  These lunatics want a theocracy.

Cross-posted at Daily Kos and TPM

I believe this election is on the cusp of becoming a landslide for Obama, and I believe that's why the McCain campaign panicked and chose Palin at the last minute without vetting her.

We keep seeing diaries with the latest Gallup, Rasmussen, CBS, etc polling showing a tightening or expanding race. But one thing I have not seen anyone do yet is put this in historical perspective.

Once you do that, you see just how strong Obama is in this election cycle, and why the republicans are so dispirited and downtrodden.

This, more than any other election in my 31 years, is ours to lose. We MUST keep fighting, not only to win, but to utterly decimate the republican party nationwide.

Some press excerpts have been released from Obama's interview with George S. tomorrow on "This Week."  Unsurprisingly, Obama was asked about Palin power and he doesn't seem too shy, at least from the excerpts, with getting in some shots.

http://thepage.time.com/excerpts-from-ob amas-interview-with-this-week/

Obama compliments her as a "skilled politician" though I suspect that's not entirely a compliment.  He also quipped that McCain "chose somebody who may be even more aligned with George Bush - or Dick Cheney, or the politics we've seen over the last eight years - than John McCain himself is."  Is that a hint that Obama may, or leave it to some surrogates to do it, bring up her stances on social issues and turn the culture wars against the pubs because it is generally accepted that McCain is, and this isn't saying much, less socially conservative than Bush?

Halperin also claims that Obama didn't concede that Palin was qualified (I think the best line to use about Palin's experience is "I'll leave it to the voters to determine whether she is qualified for the job as vice president and potentially president) and that Obama noted that the country doesn't know very much about her.

If I were Obama, I'd proclaim that either myself or Biden will hold at least one media availability a day and even better, go on a morning show everyday until Sarah Palin gives a national news network.  I'd promote the idea that she is ducking the press, a completely fair hit on her that has no relation to her gender.

John McCain may have been a man of honor at one time in his life.  He was a man of courage.

Now, he's a liar.  And a thief.  Literally.

Today, on a day he reached out with one hand to reach out in the spirit of national unity, with the other he slaps the very notion of decency in the face.

The lies, the smears, and the crimes below the fold.

Freedom's Defense Fund has produced an ad linking Obama and Kilpatrick.  In the ad Sen. Obama is speaking about all the great things Mayor Kilpatrick is and will do and that he is glad to call Kilpatrick a friend.  The video comes from Obama's speech at the Detroit Economic Club in May 2007.  FDF's press release says the ad is already running in Macomb.

The ad starts with Obama speaking and proceeds to a still photo of the two side by side and then rolls Obama's speech as a voice over while the Kilpatrick's rap sheet scrolls over the mayor's mug shot before returning to the two side-by-side and the kicker: "Do you know who Barack Obama's friends are?"

According to Todd Zirkle, Executive Director for FDF, the ad is set for a "saturated one-week schedule on cable news networks in Macomb County, Michigan."

Zinkle explains their startegy, as if it was not obvious:

"We chose Macomb County for very strategic reasons," explained Zirkle. "We believe it is difficult for liberal Democrats to win Michigan without Macomb County and we know it is extremely difficult for a Democrat to win the White House without carrying Michigan. We plan to extend this buy as resources and donations permit."

The press release:
http://www.earnedmedia.org/fdf0905.htm

The ad:
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/ 2008/09/05/freedoms-defense-fund-ad-do-y ou-know-who-barack-obamas-friends-are/

Sorry I did not do the video embed trick.