My niece Taylor is graduating from high school this month. She’s a wonderful young woman who will begin her fine arts studies in the fall. I saw many of her paintings and drawings today for the first time and was floored by her talent. She has a great life ahead.

Crossposted on Blog de Ford.

I was tired today. I got a late start to canvass for Obama and my feet were hurting after spending all of Saturday canvassing for Obama in a hilly area.

So today, I went to Indy's Central Township Obama office and spent a couple hours canvassing. It was positive experience, but again, I was tired, so I didn't spend as much time pounding the pavement as I should have.

But on my way home, on the stairs of the state capitol, I saw dozens of people holding Obama signs. I didn't know what was going on, so I parked my car and went to join my fellow Obama supporters.

Update: My first recc'd diary? Holy shit! Thank you. Hoosiers and Tarheels for Obama, you know what to do on Tuesday.

As we know, Indiana could be decisive.

From the Indy Star:

Sen. Barack Obama holds a narrow lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, with the outcome of the May 6 primary likely in the hands of a large number of undecided voters, according to a new Indianapolis Star-WTHR poll.

The poll showed that Obama — helped in particular by strong backing from black voters — is leading Clinton 41 percent to 38 percent among likely Democratic primary voters. But given the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points, this race is either candidate’s to win or lose.

Crossposted on Blog de Ford

Last semester (I'm in my final weeks of an MA in Philanthropic Studies), James Morris, the former head of the UN World Food Program spoke to my History of Humanitarian Assistance class about his role in that program. He was an engaging, compassionate speaker whose best line was: "When I took the job, I was moderate Republican. I left it as a radical feminist." That line was in reference how hard the women of the world have to work and how much they have to sacrifice just to make sure that their families are fed.

He ended his talk with us on a hopeful note by saying how easy it would be to end world hunger. Wealthy countries would have to give so many billions of dollars (I can't remember the figures, so I don't want to make them up, but the amount was pretty low compared to how much the US spends in Iraq each year) to end global hunger.

The debate on ABC last night really was a disgrace, or at least the first 40 minutes of it or so. Stephanpolis and Gibson spent the first half of the debate throwing right-wing talking points at Obama, which is not surprising considering that Stephanopolis got his questions from Sean Hannity.

Do you remember this ad used against Howard Dean by paid for by the Club for Growth?

Crossposted on Blog de Ford.

Why I do this, I have no idea, except that I really enjoy my irritainment. I do this for the same reason I read Free Republic, Taylor Marsh’s blog, and Townhall.com.

Of course, I’m talking about reading Roseanne’s blog. Yes, that Roseanne: the domestic goddess who had her own sitcom back in the 90s.

To read her blog when she writes about Hillary is to venture into a strange and unknown world where Hillary is the best thing EVER and where blog posts are usually no longer than a sentence or two and where capital letters are not welcome.

Crossposted on Blog de Ford.

I’ve been reading snippets about the international grain crisis here and there, but it hasn’t yet sunken in to the consciousness of American news consumers (probably because we’re too busy watching the Hillary and Barack show). It really should be a real concern to all of us as we think about our candidates, the policies they propose, our nation’s place in the world and our own lives.

There won't a lot of analysis in this diary, but I thought it was important to post parts of Langston Hughes' Let America Be America Again in light of Obama's speech today.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Snip

Crossposted on Blog de Ford

Interesting.

From Inside Indiana Business:

It is a big question in this year’s Democratic presidential campaign: Is America ready for an African-American or female president? The voices and votes of Indiana residents on this issue could be critical, as Hoosiers may still have a hand in determining the Democratic presidential candidate.

Snip

Cross posted on Blog de Ford.

As you know, Geraldine Ferraro quit Clinton’s finance committee today with this letter to the Clinton campaign:

"I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign," Ferraro wrote in a letter to Clinton.

"The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen."

She was unrepentant, arrogant, and a victim all at once.

Poor thing.

From the Howey-Gauge poll of Indiana voters:

Obama had a 40-25 percent lead over U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton in the statewide Democratic May 6 primary.

snip

The Obama-Clinton poll segment of the poll was the first one conducted on the bitterly contested presidential race that could find Indiana front stage center leading into the May 6 primary. Obama had huge leads among younger voters (42-16 percent), males (40-26 percent), females (39-23 percent), African-Americans (68-3 percent) and white voters (34-30 percent).  "White females are the only demographic breakdown in which Hillary Clinton leads," said Davis, "and that is a narrow 31-29 percent."

Today I had too much time on my hands and went to Taylor Marsh's blog and MyDD to read what they had to say about Obama. Of course, I knew that both of those sites were full of Obama-haters, but the level of their vitriol against Obama and his supporters made me feel like I was visiting Free Republic.

Follow me below the jump to take an easy and fun quiz to assess your ability to assess the difference between a Freeper, a Taylor Marsh poster, or a MyDDer when it comes to discussing Obama.

From The Independent:

In the wealthiest suburbs of Virginia, a quiet revolution was under way yesterday as life-long republicans switched sides to vote for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary.

So deep is the disillusionment with George Bush, so uninspiring the choice offered by the Republicans, that many life-long conservatives are abandoning the Grand Old Party to support a liberal black candidate.

Some good news from Indianapolis this evening:

A proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in Indiana likely was dealt a fatal blow today when a key lawmaker said he would not give the issue a hearing.

Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, who is chairman of the House Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee, said today that the most urgent issue facing the state is property taxes, not same-sex marriage, which already is banned by Indiana law.

So in other words, Pelath doesn't think it's a good use of resources for the state legislature to spend time and money worrying about a constitutional amendment to ban something that is already illegal.

It's pathetic that something so commonsensical is controversial.

In doing some research on Mitt Romney, I came across this, a guide written by Mark E. Peterson that instructs young Mormons on how to overcome masturbation.

It's the most unintentionally funny thing I have ever read.

I've recently kinda won the prize of my home being the headquarters for my family's holiday celebrations.

That's something I can deal with, as it's a lot of fun to have my family here enjoying themselves. When my partner and I moved here to be closer to them, their being in my home for holidays was a prime consideration.

Please follow me below the jump...

From the Indy Star:

"Welcome to the biggest upset in Indiana political history," Republican mayoral candidate Greg Ballard told a jubilant crowd gathered tonight at the Murat Theatre.

Ballard said two-term Mayor Bart Peterson called to concede the race for the top job in Indianapolis at 10:21 p.m.

Ballard took the call from the two-term mayor in a hallway, then returned to share the news with his supporters.

"He told me, 'It appears to be over,' " Ballard said. "He congratulated me. He was very gracious. He was very nice."

Ballard, 52, is a former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel making his first run for office.