That's the breaking news in the NY Times--Senator Barack Obama wants Michigan and Florida delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Recent diaries, such as this one have tackled the current foreclosure crisis.
This diary is an attempt to explain how we got where we are from the point of view of a former Fannie Mae employee. Today I will tackle a much-abbreviated version of the foreclosure crisis and the (possible) role of Fannie, Freddie and HUD in allowing it to happen. I tried to document as much as possible but couldn't find sources for some of the stuff I was told as a Fannie Mae employee.  If ANYONE has sources about these things (or counter sources--memories are an imperfect source) PLEASE put in the comments field. In a later diary I will tackle how to avoid getting into a foreclosure mess AND how to pay off your fixed-rate mortgage up to seven years early without really feeling it.
I worked at Fannie Mae from 1991-94 in an administrative job, leaving to take a job in my field of graduate study.  At the time Fannie was rolling in dough, primarily because of the Mortgage-Backed Securities business. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two private companies who originated as government agencies during the Roosevelt administration, were at that time the main issuers of Mortgage-Backed Securities, also known as MBS.

A story in Politico about commenters on News websites including DKos and HuffPo doesn't seem to have a point of view about us. Are we rabblerousers who bring about the harrassment of innocent media trolls?

When Erick Erickson, editor in chief of the conservative Web site RedState.com, wrote a post that called Cindy Sheehan a "left-wing media whore," he expected angry feedback.

He didn’t, though, expect commenters at Daily Kos to post his contact information, including his work phone number. Site moderators removed his information, but not before Erickson received a number of ominous phone calls and e-mail messages, including one from a writer who threatened to "rape my wife and unborn child." He placed a call to the FBI in response, and nothing came of the threats.

"That was first time anything like that happened to me," he says, "and I was really taken aback, but now it’s almost run of the mill."

The "humor" of John McCain, would-be stand-up comic, the subject of many diaries (such as this one), is now the subject of a story in Politico.
Sometimes inappropriate, sometimes downright offensive, but always lame, the jokes of John McCain fit an all-too common pattern.  McCain tries hard to be funny, is nowhere near as funny as he thinks he is, and cracks himself up regularly when nobody else is laughing. Like Politico, I started to wonder, "What's up with that?"

You've probably heard that there is good news from Clinton land: Bill and Barack are talking, and Bill is totally on board with the Obama campaign. According to the BBC News.

An Obama spokesman said the two had had a "terrific" conversation during a 20-minute telephone call.

A spokesman for the ex-president, who strongly criticised his wife's rival during the primaries, said he was keen to campaign for Mr Obama.

('Cause we all know that Americans use the word keen all the time.  Maybe it was a British friend?)

This is a somewhat whimsical topic but I'm curious if others are having the same experience.  Last night I dreamed of Obama for the first time.  It was a weird dream, but now that I'm awake, the meaning seems obvious.  I dreamed I was trying to "fix up" Barack with women friends and acquaintances (in the dream he was single.) For some reason I chose to fix him up with women who were about ten years older than him, and none of the fixups "took."

Sorry folks, this was already diaried here.  It looked new so I put it up.Clearly the "bomb, bomb Iran" fiasco didn't teach John McCain the lesson he should have learned from it--that he should leave the joking to others.  In Jake Tapper's blog today, he reports on yet another tasteless McCain joke gaffe.  This one is about--wait for it--wife beating. More below the fold.

I'm sure that many (if not all) Kossacks who can't drop everything, travel to the midwest and help sandbag are feeling frustrated. The suggestions I've seen for those of us stuck far from the floods to help is to send money to the Red Cross (apparently the Red Cross really needs cash badly now) or to the Humane Society.

For those who don't like those ideas, or who want to do more, I have another suggestion.  Keep reading below the fold if you are interested.

It's here--the moment we've all been waiting for!

"A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama," Mr. Gore said in an e-mail sent to his supporters. "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected President of the United States."

I got an email from Democracy for America (the organization that Howard Dean spun off from his presidential bid) with a message from Howard Dean and a suggestion that I do something about unity. I know many of you have have gotten the same email, but in case you haven't, here is the conversation Howard had with Al Gore after he lost the nomination in 2004:

Now that the Democratic primary season is finally over the post-mortems are beginning in ernest.  I read a long one in the Washington Post, and one sentence about Clinton stuck out for me:

"She started to see gender inequity in a more profound way than she ever has," one top adviser said.

On the Hillary Clinton campaign website right now, there is a box that says, "I'm with you Hillary, and I'm proud of everything you're fighting for." I have seen both comments and diaries by people who have signed the box, and then filled the optional comment field with contrary comments.

I'm pressed for time but I wanted to clarify that this diary is not "anti-level playing field." More about comments at the end.
Somewhere in the midst of all the coverage of the primaries I read that Jesse Jackson used his primary victory in South Carolina and his (relative) success as a candidate to push for reforms in the Democratic party nominating process--reforms that would benefit minority candidates, and reforms that are probably at least partly responsible for catapulting Barack Obama to the position of power he enjoys now. Yes, Obama is the right person, an extraordinary candidate, but he is the right candidate at the right time.  Would we have been ready for him in, say, 1980?  I don't think so.

Today's Politico reports what many of us have long suspected--support for Barack Obama among white women has actually been going down over the past few months.

Forty-nine percent of white women view Obama unfavorably, while only 43 percent hold a favorable opinion. In February, 36 percent of these women viewed Obama unfavorably, while 56 percent had a positive perception of the likely Democratic nominee.

Over the same period, Democratic white women’s negative view of Obama increased from 21 percent to 35 percent, while their positive view decreased from 72 percent to 60 percent — roughly the same rate as white women overall.

I was at a party yesterday with some low-information, middle-aged female Clinton supporters.  They didn't seem terribly inclined to support McCain if Hillary is not the candidate, and they seemed a bit confused about whether or not she is still viable in the primary season. One thing they do know, however, is that the Hillary hatred they run into in their daily lives seems both ugly and related to sexism.

Yes, you read that right: Erica Jong, author of some of the most annoying pro-Hillary editorials, is coming out in favor of Democratic party unity.

It's time for Democrats to put all personal bias aside and unite behind the things we believe in: a planet we can live on, reproductive choice, workers rights, health care for all, education for poor and middle class students, fair taxes, a Constitution made whole, rescuing America from war profiteers -- if indeed there is still time.

The news of Senator Ted Kennedy's malignant brain tumor has America in shock.  I don't have anything meaningful to say in my own words, but maybe these quotes from Bartleby.com will provide people with the hope and comfort they seek at this difficult time.

Maybe you find the lack of "real grades" intriguing (students at Santa Cruz receive a narrative report of their achievement for each course, rather than a letter grade ranking).  Maybe the mascot (the Banana Slug) strikes you as whimisical and clever.  Well, I've always had a warm feeling in my liberal heart for the ultra-liberal education offered by this only-in-California institution.  But now I'm starting to wonder about their academic standards. Check out this excerpt from a story in today's Washington Post about Clinton and Obama supporters reluctant to switch sides if their candidate doesn't get the nomination: