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Having just clinched the DNC nomination one of Obama’s first moves:

DNC will no longer take lobbyist, PAC money

This is going to be one hell of a race. I wonder how and if the Republicans will respond.

Don Boudreaux, Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University, occasionally comes up with some great lines, his latest:

“Almost all that any politician says on any topic other than political strategy should be treated with even less respect than would be accorded a professional circus-clown’s speculations about string theory.”

You have to love it when someone gets to the heart of an issue. The rest of the post is pretty good as well.

Insightful assessment of the current situation with the Democrats by Dick Morris in an article at TheHill.com. Morris lays out a unique perspective that I have not heard before. One which is very different than what many of the other pundits are saying.

Morris hammers home the point that a fight for the nomination all the way to the Democratic Convention would serve to steal the thunder of McCain. He (McCain) would be drowned out of the front page by the shenanigans of the Democratic candidates and would be unable to really focus on either potential Democratic candidate, a very interesting and astute observation.

The fear is that Hilary’s attacks on Obama would serve to somehow damage him going into the full Presidential campaign. According to Morris, Hilary has no shot at really hurting Obama & the DNC Delegates would be absolutely crazy to nominate her. If the Democratic nominee is up for grabs all the way to the convention & Obama was crowned at the convention there would be a massive upsurge in his popularity (indeed Morris believes an insurmountable upsurge). That upswing could last the remaining nine weeks to the actual election and Obama could walk away with all the marbles.

Fascinating analysis.

Brian Shul, a former Air Force Pilot, reminisces about flying an SR-71 over Libya over at Maggies Farm. Pretty amazing…

NY Times has just published an article that points out an interesting emerging trend in Iraq. Young people have lost their faith in their religious leaders. Wow, unexpected. Personally I think developments like these bode well for a long-term movement away from radicalism.

Marc Andreesen is turning out to be one of my favorite bloggers. He is always publishing witty insights both in and out of the tech & business world. He has a great post today on his meeting with Barack Obama in 2007. If you weren’t an Obama supporter beforehand this post may very well make you (Full Disclosure: I am an Obama supporter).

UPDATE: Lessig decided not to run….

One of the things that make New York city such a magical place to live is that there is constantly stuff like this going on.

I wish I had been there to see that, just imagine 207 people completely frozen in Grand Central. Awesome, nice job ImprovEverywhere.

A brilliant win in South Carolina by Barack Obama followed by another brilliant speech. As is readily apparent Obama’s oratory gifts are truly impressive. The first time I heard him speak I recall being stunned by Obama’s Audacity of Hope speech before the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I knew then that he would be destined for the White House and that I could potentially support him. Currently Barack seems like the most Presidential of the current crop of Dems as we slowly watch the Billary ticket implode. Even Bill Clinton is getting very bad press for his attacks on Obama.

The Republicans, on the other hand, are a total mess. Consumed by discussions of evolution vs. creationism (are they nuts?), inexplicable shifts in position (Rudy is suddenly anti Roe v Wade, wtf), McCain’s shift the the religious, and an evangelical Minister as a frontrunner (we need LESS not MORE religion). The only way this bunch of Republican yahoos could win the White House is if the Democrats destroy themselves in the primaries. Unfortunately I wouldn’t put self-destruction past the Dems as they have proven quite adept at that.

Back to Obama though, the other piece of news is Caroline Kennedy’s brilliant endorsement in the New York Times titled A President Like My Father. I believe her endorsement may be the strongest endorsement a Kennedy has given to a candidate in recent times.

Barring any last minute entrants (Bloomberg?) Obama may be getting my vote…

Joel Spolsky has another great piece on Five whys, a highly recommended read for all in technical operations and engineers in general. There is alot to learn from the Toyota example.

In the past my preferred model for technical operations has always been NASA mission control, but I will be looking closely at Toyota Production System for insights that can improve operational preparedness and response.