[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Josh Richman's blog over at the Contra Costa Times has an interesting little tidbit. "Didja know Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress were still on the United States' list of organizations considered to be terrorists?" he asks his readers. 

Well, Majority Report readers, didja know Kim Jong-il and the North Korean government will no longer be on the United States' list of organizations considered to be terrorists? Apparently, by blowing up a reactor cooling tower and handing over some paperwork to the Bush Administration, the hermit state has proved to the Bush Administration it does not promote terrorism abroad. 

"I think this represents the definitive collapse of the Bush Doctrine and I'm sure they're popping champagne corks in Pyongyang." said ultra-hawk and former Bush-appointee to the U.N. John Bolton. 

While Bolton is convinced North Korea is just waiting to unleash it's arsenal of drunk-on-champagne, nuclear-powered super-soldiers upon the world, it may be time to look at the politicized nature of the terrorist-sponsoring organizations list.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By David Dayen
d-day

I don't know if people still have some notion that Tom McClintock is a good general election candidate, having never won a contested general election race, but this John Doolittle affair should completely put an end to that.

The story goes that on June 16, McClintock appeared to signal that he would be meeting with the disgraced Congressman to talk about campaigning in tandem during the fall election.

"We're talking about doing a couple of events and we're putting them together," said Doolittle spokesman Dan Blankeburg....Stan Devereux, a spokesman for McClintock, confirmed that the campaign had set up a meeting to discuss Doolittle's support for McClintock."

The very next day, June 17, a McClintock spokesman denied any desire for an endorsement or joint campaign event.

"If you're running as an outsider why would you want anyone's endorsement?" asked John Feliz, a McClintock consultant, when asked if the campaign would be receiving Doolittle's stamp of approval." June 17, 2008, PolitickerCA.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Doug Paul Davis

To illustrate how improbable Mariko Yamada's victory over Christopher Cabaldon was, let us recount a few key watermarks in the race.

Almost from the start, it seemed an uphill battle as Cabaldon had the audacity in January of 2007, weeks after Lois Wolk officially took office for her third and final term as Assemblywoman, there he stood in Yamada's home town with two of her colleagues, two members of the Davis City Council, two members of his own city council, and the Mayor of Woodland (and to boot Jeff Monroe was in uniform that day, but attended the event to show support for Cabaldon).

It seemed before Mariko Yamada even announced she was way behind and she never caught up (or so we thought).

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dave Johnson
Speak Out California

Are you following the election coverage? Here are some recent stories: The media pounds candidate Hillary Clinton to release her tax forms, because the public has a right to know. And she does release her and her husband's returns, going back a decade. The media trumpets how much income they have been receiving, how rich they are, and drills down into details. If you follow the news, it is inescapable. At the same time candidate John McCain releases only partial forms that show all assets are now in his wife's name, and he won't release his wife's tax returns. The media is mostly silent on this; most of the public has little opportunity to learn of this.

Another story: Candidate McCain won't release his medical records. Again from the media there is mostly silence; most of the public has little opportunity to learn of this.

And here is the big story: Unless you have been in a coma you know that for several weeks video clips of statements by Barack Obama's former minister have been aired nearly 24 hours a day on the news shows, especially on FOX News. These clips are considered scary by certain demographic groups who are not familiar with the speaking patterns of black ministers

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dale Wissman

As first time delegates at the recent California Democratic Convention in San Jose, my wife Linda and I were two of the eleven delegates who banded together to ensure that the Party made no endorsement in the 80th Assembly primary race. There were some very good reasons why eleven scrappy delegates, the majority of whom were first timers, found it necessary to stand together (no matter which candidate they supported) to ensure that the Party made no endorsement in the AD80 race. Those reasons had everything to do with good old-fashioned democracy and fairness.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

State Senator Carole Migden (left), coming out of a harsh rebuke from party activists who refused to endorse her re-election, can at least run a legitimate campaignnow that a judge has allowed her to spend $640,000 in left-over funds,the San Francisco Chronicle reports. She still faces an uphill battleagainst Assembly members Mark Leno and Joe Nation though.

When Bill Clinton told convention-goers to last Sunday to "chill out"over the on-going race between his wife Hillary and Barack Obama, he could well have been talking to himself, according to the Chronicle. Prior to taking the stage, Bill had one ofhis meltdowns, turning red in the face and screaming over BillRichardson's endorsement of Obama.

Former Congressman Doug Ose is hitting primary opponent Tom McClintock hard for "carpetbagging"in a new campaign ad high-lighted by the Sacramento Bee. In the ad, anarrator accuses McClintock of shopping for a new job in the NorthernCalifornia Congressional district being vacated by John Doolittlerather than running in Ventura County, which he represented in theState Senate. Conviently missing: Ose doesn't live in the districteither. Details, details.

There's more...