NP; looks like the Dem Primary is kinda like Iceland Sparring.....

[Michael Bailey]

I can't quit this thread  (kinda like Brokeback...)

The Iceland Spar reference of its title really sang to me
this morning:
consider if you will,  a painless Democratic candidate
selection process -
with a widespread concurrence that it's important to
win the fall election.
One candidate emerges, and persons of the Democrat
persuasion concur that, although imperfect, that candidate
embodies acceptability.

but at some point in the Zombini stage show, a twinning
occurs, and there are now 2 candidates who are
somewhat acceptable.  Superficial differences aside,
it does look that way.

Now the complications occur - like Zombini, if we try
to make one of the candidates disappear, we find that
he or she objects strenuously...

Superdelegates - whose crackbrained idea was that?
It's as if the process wasn't already convoluted enough...
and is the kind of step away from "one person, one vote"
that you'd expect from Republicans!

Michigan and Florida - shame, shame on these benighted
jurisdictions and their party organizations!  What were they thinking?
In trying to inflate their importance, they ignored the rules -
again, the type of thing we expect from Bush and company
but not "progressives"

Reverend Wright - what P-lister could fail to appreciate
his paranoia?
http://thetalkingdrum.com/aids.html explaiins how it's
not difficult to assume US Govt complicity in AIDs - think
of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, for instance -
although scientific analysis (according to their analysis)
shows the resemblance between HIV and the viruses
that our wonderful germ-warfare labs were publicly known
to be working on is only superficial...

and as to the CIA-cocaine connection, it's too bad
Gary Webb isn't alive to appreciate how thoroughly
his research is being ignored
but alas, he killed himself with 2 shots to the head
(one has to admire his tenacity)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

On January 29, 1998, Hitz published Volume One
of his internal investigation. This was the first of two
CIA reports that eventually substantiated many of Webb's claims
about cocaine smugglers, the Nicaraguan contra movement,
and their ability to freely operate without the threat of law enforcement.[3]

On March 16, 1998, Hitz admitted that the CIA
had maintained relationships with companies and individuals
the CIA knew were involved in the drug business. Hitz told
the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that
"there are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or
consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals
supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have
engaged in drug-trafficking activity or take action to resolve
the allegations."[14] Senator John Kerry had reached similar
conclusions a decade earlier in 1987. (See:[3])

On May 7, 1998, Rep. Maxine Waters, revealed a memorandum of
understanding between the CIA and the Justice Department from 1982,
which was entered into the Congressional Record. This letter had
freed the CIA from legally reporting drug smuggling by CIA assets,
a provision that covered the Nicaraguan contras and the
Afghan rebels.[4]

On July 23, 1998, the Justice Department released a report by
its Inspector General, Michael Bromwich. The Bromwich report
claimed that the Reagan-Bush administration was aware of cocaine
traffickers in the Contra movement and did nothing to stop the criminal
activity. The report also alleged a pattern of discarded leads and
witnesses, sabotaged investigations, instances of the CIA
working with drug traffickers, and the discouragement of DEA
investigations into Contra-cocaine shipments. The CIA's refusal
to share information about contra drug trafficking with
law-enforcement agencies was also documented.
The Bromwich report corroborated Webb's investigation into
Norwin Meneses, a Nicaraguan drug smuggler.[citation needed]

On October 8, 1998, CIA I.G. Hitz published Volume Two of his internal
investigation. The report described how the Reagan-Bush administration
had protected more than 50 Contras and other drug traffickers, and
by so doing thwarted federal investigations into drug crimes.
Hitz published evidence that drug trafficking and money laundering
had made its way into Reagan's National Security Council where
Oliver North oversaw the operations of the contras.[5]
 According to the report, the Contra war took precedence
over law enforcement. To that end, the internal investigation
revealed that the CIA routinely withheld evidence of Contra crimes
from the Justice Department, Congress and even the analytical
division of the CIA itself. Further, the report confirmed Webb's
claims regarding the origins and the relationship of contra fundraising
and drug trafficking. The report also included information about
CIA ties to other drug traffickers not discussed in the Webb series,
including Moises Nunez and Ivan Gomez. More importantly, the
internal CIA report documented a cover-up of evidence which
had led to false intelligence assessments.