First off: I am a huge HUGE Obama supporter.  I post this not to scare you but to inform you on what I believe is coming and how we can stop it

People love to say this.  "I told you so!".   Everyone loves to believe they know more than everyone else, and never more so than when they’ve been over ruled.
Some Clinton backers and especially the PUMAs would love nothing more than to see Obama falter.  
A small a group as it may be, with the right amplification and timing, this group of "disaffected Democrats" could cast enough doubt to skew polls for a week or more.  

So as the Boy Scouts say "BE PREPARED"
Prepare yourself below

Following recent investigative articles by the New York Times and the Washington Post  which detail two separate instances in which Sen. McCain apparently used his influence to bring about federal land deals lucrative for his friends and campaign contributors, another such case is about to come to the forefront.

This new land swindle is far less benign than the other two.  It involves wealthy corporate mining interests, electric utilities, and a Coal slurry pipeline through the homeland of Native Americans, which took not only their land but their precious water along the way as well.

In this case, Sen. McCain's influence did more than just bring profits to campagin contributors, it dispossessed thousands of indigenous people from lands they had occupied since before Columbus, not in the 19th Century, but in the 21st.  A story similar to that of many tribes sold out and taken advantage of by ruthless politicians, this wasnt the work of some banana republic dictator, but of the Republican candidate for President of the United States.

So, I logged on to thepage.time.com just now to find something pretty striking. It is of the possibility of a Clinton-Obama deal that would force Clinton out of the race in exchange for a few concessions. After reading it, I would not mind this deal in response to her withdrawing. She is not going to be forced to be Obama's vice president if this deal is correct, and the entire media narrative will be like in the old looney toons commercials, whenever the main character laughs as two baddies are fighting each other.. then they stop and start growling at the cowering toon figure. That could be what McCain faces, REALLY soon... More on the deal beyond the fold:

This is a pattern for Hillary and her supporters. Say one thing when it's convenient for votes and do another when it's convenient for your pocket or in Hillary's case her husband's Presidency.

After this revelation, what will Hillary do with Mark Penn? So far all she's done is paid him $10 million dollars to allow him to put her in debt and wound her campaign.

Of course, conveniently, he wasn't there on the behalf of her campaign.

As Hillary wasn't there during her NAFTA meeting on behalf of her husband.

Yeah, right.

As much as I, like many here, love the drama of the continued primary season (as opposed to Iowa & New Hamp. deciding everything) the time has come for the 2 camps to make a deal and unite the party behind one candidate.  

The fact that even in Kos-ville the 2 factions can't be civil leaves me real concerns as to what will happen in a General.  While many Clinton & Obama supporters may dislike one another, for the most part they prefer the other to McCain.  Meanwhile, they have spent nearly $300 million between them and only served to hurt each other.

Any deal is going to have to come from outside the candidates with either Gore or Dean serving as the peacemaker.  One or the other will have to cede their interests for now for the betterment of the party.  Either a Clinton-Obama or Obama-? (I don't picture Hilary as #2 in this scenario, but maybe getting Senate Majority Leader instead) needs to be agreed upon before Pennsylvania and the chaos of make up campaigns in Florida and Michigan.

As stated last week in a Diary titled, Iran Offers Nuclear Deal, on Feb. 24, 2008, Iran offered to ACCEPT the Additional Protocol that would impose a regimen of intrusive inspections on Iran's nuclear activities.  Submission to the Additional Protocol is conditioned on removal of Iran's nuclear file from the UN Security Council, to be monitored by the IAEA.

Dr. Dalia Dasso Kaye of RAND Corporation made a similar suggestion at an address to the World Affairs Council in Pittsburgh, PA in December, 2007.

But a number of signals suggest that, consistent with its intransigent behavior regarding Iraq, the Bush administration will hold to its ideologically-driven "carrots and sticks" approach, whose real goal is to at least bankrupt and possibly militarily attack Iran, rather than take a giant step into a future of a cooperative relationship with Iran.

In a speech sponsored by Pittsburgh's United Jewish Federation, Patrick Clawson, colleague of Daniel Pipes and Michael Ledeen, stated that he doubted that "carrots and sticks" would work because Iran would consider any "carrots the US offered to be poison."

Here's the question I want to pose to the rest of you, something I'm not sure of.  If this is a revised version of the old bill that's going to be put through the Senate, will it have to go back to the House for reconsideration?  If so, I think I know what we have to do.

Congress - Reject this toothless deal!

The news today of the Iraq Supplemental agreement is extraordinarily disheartening.  The congress has blinked, and they are reinforcing Bush's unchecked chokehold on our foreign policy.  We must make it clear to our representatives that this is an absolutely unacceptable compromise.  We must demand that our men and women are removed from the deathtrap which is the Iraqi Civil War.

While the rigid NeoCons in the Bush Regime refused to talk with the insurgents preferring a Quixotic quest for a military "victory", apparently the Al Maliki government has been talking with rebel groups working toward a political solution to the conflict.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior Iraqi official said on Thursday the government was holding talks with some major insurgent groups that might be nearing a point where a number would join a fight to drive al Qaeda out of Iraq.

Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi, international affairs director at the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Ministry, said the talks were designed to persuade the groups to halt guerrilla warfare against the government and help defeat al Qaeda.

"We've already established links and contacts with major insurgent groups," Muttalibi told the BBC in an interview.

"One of the aims is to join with them into the fight against al Qaeda. We are almost getting there and to join forces to attack al Qaeda to get them out of Iraq," he said...

Iraq says may be near anti-Qaeda deal with rebels

They'll lead you to believe that your package includes airfare, hotel and a car rental. Guess which component of the "deals" they omit without really saying so? Yep...it's your airfare unless you read the very fine print.

American Airlines was a great company. What's he deal with their cheap tricks?

Nations Reach Deal on Confronting Iran

UNITED NATIONS - The five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council reached a deal Wednesday on confronting Iran's suspect nuclear program, setting the stage for the first action by the powerful U.N. body over fears that Tehran wants a nuclear weapon.

The 15 members of the council planned to meet later Wednesday to approve the statement, which was expected to demand that Iran abandon uranium enrichment, the process that can lead to a nuclear weapon.

http://news.yahoo.com/...
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Any ideas how this will play out? I have the feeling Rove is going to demand a resolution authorizing the use of military force the same way he did in 2002 to try to divide dems.

John Warner just walked on to the Senate floor and read a press release from DP World that they have agreed to divest its interest in American Ports.

These events transpired today after the Schumer amendment was succesful.  With the writing on the wall Bush gave in and realized that any veto would be pointless.

Score one for American Security.

Links:
http://www.cnn.com/...
http://www.cnn.com/... (2nd item)

Short but there isn't much information out currently.

This is the latest Raw Story update, I am sure you have seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/...

While discussing the pending plea of Abramoff, a wise insighter with whom I was conversing, noted that the real story is the race to the DA's door. The NYT piece is probably a heads-up to all the other rats that the time is now to jump ship and sing like the birdie.

Keep an eye out for increased activity as the Abramoff plea announcement nears. That is if he gets a deal. By the time, the stampede to the DA's door is over poor Mr.Abramoff may have nothing to offer but useless confirmations. Or, he may have to come up with something so big that he and he alone can tell the tale.