The Clinton camp has noted a few similarities between some Obama speeches and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick rhetoric. Sounds like a pretty serious allegation. That is unless we consider that they might actually be friends?

Governor? Your response?

In a statement this morning, Patrick said the two men often shared ideas and language with each other.

So the Governor doesn’t seem to mind that Obama is contributing some of the same rhetoric as Gov. Patrick.

Sen. Obama?

“Deval and I do trade ideas all the time, and you know he’s occasionally used lines of mine, and I at a Jefferson Jackson dinner in Wisconsin used some words of his.

Apparently there’s no issue of Obama “stealing” ideas or pretending that he isn’t influenced by his friend. What’s the problem then, Clinton camp?

“If you’re going to be talking about the value of words, the words ought to be your own,” said [Clinton spokesman] Wolfson.

Because I’m sure Clinton writes every single last word of her speeches. Is that the best ya got, Hil?

The elections held in Pakistan presently carry weight as the previous champion of the opposition parties to President Pervez Musharraf and his military rule, Benazir Bhutto, is no longer alive to carry-on her democratic work. But the people of Pakistan show their faith in her party, and others outside the present established government, with their voices, and their votes.

“It seems, according to predictions, that the opposition has won,” Tariq Azeem, a spokesman for the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam said in a telephone interview from the capital, Islamabad.

Early results from the 64,000 polling booths showed gains for the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party and former prime minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League. A two-thirds majority would give the opposition the mandate to press Musharraf to reverse constitutional changes that have kept him in power since a 1999 military coup.

“Going by the trend the opposition parties will win, if they don’t sweep they will at least get the majority,” Talat Masood, former general and a political and defense analyst, said in a telephone interview from Islamabad. “Definitely, the results are being delayed and maybe the authorities will try to take advantage of the night but I doubt very much they will be able to manipulate.”

With 100 of 272 constituencies reporting, Bhutto’s party won 28 seats in the National Assembly, with Sharif’s group securing 32, according to the private Online International News Network’s Web site. The Pro-Musharraf party won in 12 districts, it said. The official Election Commission tally showed Bhutto and Sharif’s party with six seats each and Musharraf’s backers with one victory, out of 21 parliamentary seats.

Of course… there’s always the chance that a leader who holds his position due to military force and increased power through removal of other government officials who oppose him could choose not to leave his office, even if he loses the general election.

Even a landslide opposition victory won’t necessarily dislodge the president. Musharraf, 64, has the constitutional authority to dissolve parliament. That power and concerns about rigged balloting lead some analysts to predict that opposition clout will remain limited.

Musharraf has lost support since March, when he began trying to oust the independent-minded Supreme Court chief justice, and opposition increased in November when he imposed emergency rule to sack dozens of top judges who refused to acknowledge his supreme authority. His popularity also has been further undercut by former prime minister Bhutto’s Dec. 27 assassination while campaigning.

We should cross our fingers that this possibility does not occur, because with Pakistan as a U.S. ally under Musharraf’s rule and the U.S. also supporting the democratic process, it could put us in quite the predicament of having to prove if we really want to spread and support democracy.  Or perhaps we’re more keen to keep allies and win (well… not that we’ve really won anything yet) wars.

The U.S., which has pumped $10 billion into Pakistan since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with the aim of securing the country against al-Qaeda, is depending on the vote to further a transition to civilian government from Musharraf’s military rule.

U.S. intelligence agencies are critical of Musharraf’s efforts to control extremists and say al-Qaeda has established bases in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

One thing is for certain, it’s a dangerous time for the people of Pakistan.

The government had warned journalists and election observers from the European Union, the U.S. and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to avoid certain areas, including near Afghanistan’s border, where fighting against al-Qaeda terrorists continues. A suicide bombing on Feb. 17 killed more than 80 people in the Afghan city of Kandahar in one of the deadliest attacks since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The number of people killed in terrorist attacks and sectarian violence in Pakistan more than doubled last year to 2,116 from 967 in 2006, the Interior Ministry in Islamabad says.

So far this time around the elections has been peaceful, and we hope it continues to stay that way.

Reported today in the New York Times is a scientific find that there’s another solar system, and it’s just like ours, only littler, and 5000 light years away. But other than that… yup, just like ours.

Ohio State University. Dr. Gaudi led an international team of 69 professional and amateur astronomers who announced the discovery in a news conference with reporters.

Their results are being published Friday in the journal Science. The discovery, they said, means that our solar system may be more typical of planetary systems across the universe than had been thought.

In the newly discovered system, a planet about two-thirds of the mass of Jupiter and another about 90 percent of the mass of Saturn are orbiting a reddish star at about half the distances that Jupiter and Saturn circle our own Sun. The star is about half the mass of the Sun.

Neither of the two giant planets is a likely abode for life as we know it. But, Dr. Gaudi said, warm rocky planets — suitable for life — could exist undetected in the inner parts of the system.

“This could be a true solar system analogue,” he said.

Sara Seager, a theorist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not part of the team, said that “right now in exoplanets we are on an inexorable path to finding other Earths.” Dr. Seager praised the discovery as “a big step in finding out if our planetary system is alone.”

Ok, so maybe we’re jumping the gun a little with the comparison to our solar system and thinking about more “Earths”, but one never does know. If we can figure out how to travel 5000 light years, we might just be able to get away from our current home before we completely wreck it, and find a new place to start over (and presumably wreck as well, cuz we’re good like that).

Al Gore has become a very valuable member to the Democratic Party since his loss in the Presidential elections in 2000, with his Nobel Prize win, and high profile fight against global warming, his opinion has risen in stock… and should it come down to it- his nod of support could be one of the make or breaks for Clinton or Obama who are still practically neck and neck in this Primary race.

Gore emerged yesterday as a possible mediator who could negotiate a resolution if the primary campaign ends in a stalemate and has to be decided by the party convention, where divisions are likely to run deep.

The former vice-president, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental campaign, is among a number of party ‘elders’ who plan to remain neutral in order to keep such an option open, the New York Times reported yesterday.

They are increasingly concerned that the momentum built up by Clinton and Obama’s enthralling race could be squandered if neither lands a knockout blow and the nomination is decided at the convention by an elite of 796 Democratic ’super-delegates’. A perception that a backroom deal had ignored the wishes of millions of voters could be a gift to the Republicans, who have already in effect settled on John McCain as their candidate.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, and three candidates who have dropped out of the contest – former senator John Edwards and senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden – have spoken to Gore recently. None has declared allegiance, although Gore is said to have been wooed by supporters of both Clinton and Obama.

One really has to hope for the Democratic party’s sake that it doesn’t come down to that- because as mentioned in the article, with a public that is already disenfranchised with it’s role in politics, and it’s lack of faith in the system, for closed back room meetings to be what nominates the Presidential candidate could be disasterous.

Time will tell.  But either way, with both Clinton and Obama taking pot shots at each other- there’s going to be very little McCain is going to need to do once the time comes.

They’re calling it the next Virginia Tech or Columbine massacre. My alma mater, Northern Illinois University, has found itself among the ranks of those infamous few.

The gunman entered one of the many lecture halls at the University and began open firing at the students. At the time of this posting, five are confirmed dead and 17 injured. He assaulted the classroom with a shotgun and two hand guns and then turned the gun on himself.

At the time of this posting, his identity has not been revealed. Neither has the identities of those who have been killed or injured.

America has certainly gone mad.

UPDATE 2/15/08 11:00 am CST:

NIU President John Peters said a total of 22 people were shot, including the gunman. Four people, including the gunman, died at the scene; two others died later at area hospitals.

The gunman, Steve Kazmierczak, 27, a one-time undergraduate and award-winning sociology graduate student at NIU who campus Police Chief Donald Grady said was “revered by faculty and staff” and gave “no indication that this was the type of person who would engage in this activity.” Kazmierczak had recently stopped taking his medication, Grady told reporters.

Dems and Reps just can’t seem to get along on much of anything.  And what a shame, as Lincoln said- “A house divided against itself cannot stand” and if we don’t all figure out how to get along, our nation will only continue to flounder. 

The issue currently drawing attention indeed takes place in the House fittingly enough, and involves the Dems voting to hold two of Bush’s good buddies in contempt for holding up the process of inquiries into whether a purge of federal prosecutors was politically motivated.

Angry Republicans boycotted the vote and staged a walkout.

The vote was 223-32 Thursday to hold presidential chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt. The citations charge Miers with failing to testify and accuse her and Bolten of refusing Congress’ demands for documents related to the 2006-2007 firings.

Republicans said Democrats should instead be working on extending a law — set to expire Saturday — allowing the government to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails in the United States in cases of suspected terrorist activity.

You know… unless, maybe the Dems don’t want to extend a law that allows the gov’t to invade the privacy of it’s citizens without due cause…  I dunno, I’m just riffing here. 

If Congress doesn’t act to enforce the subpoenas, said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat, it would “be giving its tacit consent to the dangerous idea of an imperial presidency, above the law and beyond the reach of checks and balances.”

Ooh… hey, that could be it too.  Hadn’t thought to put it that way. 

Of course, just like Kucinich and his attempted impeachments recently, and so many other attempts to rein in the Bush administration, this will likely just fall by the wayside and be forgotten, but it’s still the thought that counts.  I guess.

The momentum is monstrous across America. Obama has stormed past Clinton this last week sweeping eight primary states away from her. There seems to be little doubt about who the two Presidential contenders will be. An Obama-McCain showdown is about to begin.

Some other notable items coming from the campaign trail:

• Bill Clinton’s ex-campaign manager is backing Obama. Another stab at Hillary after recently firing her own campaign manager. Now her husband’s ex-manager has turned against the Clinton clan too. I don’t think tears are gonna save you on this one, Hil.
• McCain’s son returned last Saturday from his deployment to Iraq. To McCain’s credit, he’s been extremely respectful of his sons involvement in the military and refuses to speak publicly about it. But many voters who have had to endure their own children being sent to war will find a kinship with McCain which may potentially sway quite a few votes in his favor.  Will this be a future campaign angle?
• Clinton apparently eats “a lot of hot peppers“. I cringe when I read these off the cuff comments from her. When she tries to come off as “human”, she only appears to be trying far too hard and is actually pushing votes even further away. Or, maybe it’s the pepper breath that’s doing that.

EDIT 2/14/08  11:41 AM CST:

My comment to the Clinton blip at the CNN Political Ticker website (linked above) was moderated and removed by CNN.  Are you serious, CNN?  My comment was almost a word for word retype of what I published above regarding Clinton’s taste for hot peppers.  No profanities. No insane ranting. What gives?

EDIT 12:25 PM CST by Skitz M. Jones:

And comments for that article are now completely closed. I wonder what else folks could’ve been saying. Other than the obvious one that still stands there- “How is this newsworthy?”

A study by Abt Associates Inc. and reported by the Associated Press analyzed veterans who had recently returned within 1-3 years from their war time deployments. The study found a shocking 18 percent of veterans unemployed and one out of four who found jobs make less than $21,840 a year.

Why is this happening?

The study said:

Employers often had misplaced stereotypes about veterans’ fitness for employment, such as concerns they did not have adequate technological skills, or were too rigid, lacked education or were at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.

What did the VA have to say about this claim?

A VA spokesman declined to comment, saying the report spoke for itself.

And what did the actual soldiers have to say?

A Labor Department report obtained by the AP showed that formal job complaints by reservists remained high, citing concerns about denied jobs or benefits after their tried to return to their old jobs after extended tours in Iraq. Reservists filed 1,357 complaints with the department in 2006, the latest figures available, down from nearly 1,600 in 2005, when complaints reached the highest level since 1991.

So the study says there’s hiring discrimination from employers. (Big suprise?) The soldiers are still filing complaints about the way they’re treated as veterans. And the VA says it’s all just B.S.

Just to put that 18 percent veteran unemployment rate into perspective, I’d like to note the current national unemployment rate as reported from the U.S. Department of Labor is 4.9 percent. Something’s a little fishy here.

It’s about damn time.

The case could begin to fulfill a longtime goal of the Bush administration: establishing culpability for the terrorist attacks of 2001. [...]

Military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the plot that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, people who have been briefed on the case said.

The charges, to be filed in the military commission system at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would involve as many as six prisoners, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the former senior aide to Osama bin Laden who has said he was the principal planner of the plot.

GWB is crossing his fingers to add something positive to his Presidency (besides his futile efforts at Middle Eastern peace).

But several of the detainees being prosecuted for their parts in the Sept. 11th attack were tortured with waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and even “forced to wear a bra and led around on a leash”.

Something tells me it won’t be a swift trial.

From MSNBC-

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are scheduled to participate in an MSNBC debate Feb. 26 from Ohio, which holds its primary March 4. The Clinton campaign has pushed hard for as many debates as possible with Obama, but Wolfson said the Feb. 26 debate could be jeopardized.

Wolfson pointed to what he called a pattern of tasteless comments by MSNBC anchors about the Clinton campaign. Weeks ago, “Hardball” host Chris Matthews apologized to the former first lady after suggesting her political career had been made possible by her husband’s philandering.

Anchor David Shuster outraged the Clinton campaign by saying on the air that the campaign had “pimped out” the Clintons’ daughter, when they had her place phone calls to party superdelegates on her mother’s behalf.

Shuster has been made to apologize and has been suspended temporarily from on-air broadcast.

The funny thing to me on all of this is, really, who in the Clinton family hasn’t been our whorin’ for mama?  Not to mention she’s been shamelessly riding her hubby’s name and record from the get-go.  And if Bill hadn’t been all involved is scandal from getting his little Willy wet, would we ever have known Hillary for “standing by her man”?

When you bring your whole family into the political arena and use them to boost your campaign, it’s not unfair for others to comment on just how you’re using them.  Welcome to public life Hil.  Of course… that’s just my take.