For Shit's Sake, the Man's Worth $32 Million

Gmail relayed me some excellent news this afternoon.

Although it wasn't surprising that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) raised over $32.5 million, I was alarmed by how well the campaign is doing - definitely a record-setter.

To break down the slightly more than $32.5 million:

Money break down
- $31 million is for use in the Democratic primary
- $1.5 million is for use in the General election
Donor breakdown (this quarter)
- 154,000 different donors have donated money during the second quarter
Total breakdown
- 258,000 different donors have donated money in the entirety of the campaign
- $58 million has been raised to be used by Barack Obama at some point in the path to the presidency

Need I say more?

Regarding Obama for America's iChange idea

When I received an email on my Google Mail account alerting me of an event that I was invited to attend, I was intrigued (normally, I'm not). I thought I'd follow the link that the email told me to pursue, and when I discovered what they had finally named the student movement surge regarding Obama's decision to run for President, I wasn't surprised. However, when I looked at how creative they had gotten with an event that they had created on Facebook, I was surprised. Very surprised. Normally, the description of an event on Facebook is boring and vapid, however, this 4-lined description (well, more, but the first four lines are the ones that caught my attention) awed me.

iChange (i-cheynj), noun:
1. a new level of youth participation needed to elect a new kind of politician to the White House: 2008 Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama.
2. campaign activities run by, made for, or involving youth or student activists.

I had never seen before such an interesting way to get across a point. The campaign's really outdone themselves on this four-lined definition, and as we all know, they've done some incredible stuff so far. It's not even so much the definition --- it's the idea of a definition to get their point across. My initial reaction when I saw the description was, "wow, incredibly creative!"

Subpoenaing Cheney's Office

I'm glad that the Senate Judiciary Committee has finally decided to subpoena Cheney's office. It's about damn time. I read an article in the New York Times regarding Cheney's decision to try and eliminate the Information Security Oversight Office, an office headed by the National Archives. The Information Security Oversight Office looks over any classified documents that were created by, in this case, Cheney and Cheney's staff, and after Cheney repeatedly resisted oversight, the Oversight Office objected. Shortly after, Cheney suggested annuling the Office.

Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-Ca), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, or the Oversight Committee, for short, thought the idea was absurd. Simply because Cheney wanted the office abolished did not mean that he had the right to "unilaterally [exempt] his office from Executive Order 12958, [Classified National Security Information][,] which establishes a uniform, government-wide system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information".

The New York Times quoted Henry A. Waxman as having said, "'I know the vice president wants to operate with unprecedented secrecy. But this is absurd. This order is designed to keep classified information safe. His argument is really that he’s not part of the executive branch, so he doesn’t have to comply'". C'mon, Dick, this isn't even arguable, how are you NOT part of the executive branch? You're the Vice President of the United States of America!

Ann Coulter's Done It Again

When I logged on to my computer today, I refreshed The Huffington Post webpage wanting to see what had recently changed in Liberal politics. I wasn't surprised to see this. Reading the article regarding Ann Coulter and Elizabeth Edwards disgusted me. Being a pretty big fan of John Edwards, I feel that Ann Coulter needs to learn to use acumen. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I disagree with her politically, it's that she's just so heinous in everything that she does. There's no need to call Al Gore a "total fag" - that's just unprofessional.

Anyhow, after doing this, I decided that I wanted to, say, refresh my everlasting hate for Ann Coulter by, yes, searching for Ann Coulter on YouTube. Many of the videos display just how much she disregards common courtesy, from calling Al Gore a "total fag" to attacking Michael J. Fox for being off of his medication, just like Rush Limbaugh.

Maybe I'm just acknowledging that I pay attention to what she says by writing this blog entry, but I feel the need to get my thoughts down, and I hope that many of my fellow Democrats agree that she needs to back off.

Seeking Several Editors and Contributors

Regarding Politics is seeking several editors and contributors. Among the *unpaid* editorial positions are:

- Managing Editor (generally in charge of the day-to-day operations of the blog)
- Circulation Editor (solely in charge of getting the word out)
- US Politics Editor (in charge of fact checking and checking for grammatical and spelling errors in the realm of US Politics)
- Global Politics Editor (in charge of fact checking and checking for grammatical and spelling errors in the realm of Global Politics)

We're in extreme need of a Circulation Editor!

We're also always in need of contributors that are willing to write a post whenever they feel the urge to do so.