Senator Clinton set to admit Obama is the nominee tonight

The Hillary Clinton campaign is letting it be known that she plans to use tonight's speech in New York to effectively end her campaign for president, and declare Obama the nominee...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/clinton&printer=1;_ylt=ArXMSwZE._BhlEYO.2mVDEdh24cA

...what is interesting is that she is specifically avoiding using the word "concede", and her aides indicate that she will NOT "suspend" the campaign or declare it actually "over". She appears to be positioning herself for the strongest bargaining position possible for a cabinet position in an Obama administration (maybe VP) or to jump back in if some scandal breaks which derails the Illinois Senator before the Convention.

I think I speak for most Americans - Democratic, Republican, or Other - when I say "Finally." I am ready for a few weeks without political news to catch my breath before the run-up to the Fall Conventions. But I do expect CNN, FoxNews, and others to try to keep their ratings up with speculation about Hillary supporters sabotaging Obama in the election (even though I suspect most will either hold their nose and vote for the big O, or will simply stay home).

Bob Barr's Libertarian Party Acceptance Speech

I am thinking perhaps today is "third party options day" here at Mod-Blog. After finding the Constitution Party nomination speech, I thought I should go out and pull in a few others. Here is Bob Barr from the Libertarian Party. He has better rhetorical skills than McCain, but seems a bit light on content here. Again, I doubt that either Obama or McCain will be watching their backs on this one.

Constitution Party picks a nominee

The Constitution Party, a third party espousing Conservative ideas which is far more isolationist than either of the two majors, has chosen their nominee: Pastor Charles "Chick" Baldwin. While I am supportive of third parties and expanding the choice of the American political system, from the acceptance speech I do not think John McCain has too much to worry about from this particular competitor.

Hillary Supporters Key to a McCain Victory?

Most of us have seen the video of "screaming woman" at the RBC meeting saying that if Obama is the nominee, all of Hillary's supporters will go over to McCain. I have been reading several left-wing bloggers and they seem equally split between those who decry the sentiment because McCain is Pro-life and those who support the sentiment because... well... their priority is getting a woman - any woman - elected.

This makes me wonder if it is possible to find a GOP woman to serve as McCain's VP who can both be enough of a feminist to please Hillary Clinton supporters, and Pro-Life enough to satisfy (please note I did not say "please") Conservatives. I could not think of anyone offhand - most of the likely suspects are too tightly linked to GWB - but if so, this could be the key to a McCain win.

Introverts vindicated! It is okay NOT to express your emotions

After many of the major horrors of the last decade (Columbine, 9/11, Virginia Tech), the talking heads all over television were of one mind. "It is important to express your emotions over these events," they said in one voice. "If you are not speaking to someone about how you are feeling, you are hurting yourself and those around you." Well, it may be that this conventional wisdom is incomplete. Sometimes keeping it to yourself can be the best policy.

Using a large national sample, Seery and co-researchers tested people's responses to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, beginning immediately after the event and continuing for the following two years. In an online survey, respondents were given the chance to express their thoughts and feelings on the day of 9/11 and a few days afterward.

The researchers then compared people who chose to express their thoughts and feelings versus those who chose not to express.

If the assumption about the necessity of expression is correct -- that failing to express one's feelings indicates some harmful repression or other pathology -- then people who chose not to express should have been more likely to experience negative mental and physical health symptoms over time, the researchers point out.

"However, we found exactly the opposite: people who chose not to express were better off than people who did choose to express," Seery says.

Moreover, when the researchers looked only at people who chose to express their thoughts and feelings, and tested the length of their responses, they found a similar pattern. People who expressed more were worse off than people who expressed less.

It should be noted that this does not mean that everyone should be closing themselves down. The study authors themselves note that this really only shows that different people deal with trauma in different ways. An introvert should not be angry at an extrovert for needing to vent, and an extrovert should not be angry at an introvert for working thru their issues internally. Turns out, people really are built differently. Who knew?

The best sight we saw on vacation

I post this both as an example of Flickr Video's new features and because it is too cute. Ward and Muse have much to be proud of in their Wardling... or is she a Museling? Or do we just call her the Cuteling?

Is it bad that I have actually done this to my dogs?