No do-over for Michigan

This is no surprise, but here you go. Despite protests by the Clinton camp, the poor ol’ Michigan voters will not get their do-over.

Now listen, there are two important points to be made here:

1. The only reason this is being fought for is blatant selfishness. The Clinton camp wants the delegates, that’s all. There is no desire for fairness to the voters, they’re behind and want a “legitimate” win, so they’re going to scrape for the Michigan vote. Remember, Michigan defied the DNC, this is what happens. Rules are rules, you can’t go changing on the fly after someone willfully breaks them.
2. This “popular vote” thing is complete crap. It’s not like a general election, remember there are caucuses and primaries. There is a difference. Primaries are like the general, you just show up and vote. Caucuses are a big hullabaloo with a small voting window and as a result end up with far smaller turnouts. The delegates are there to represent the proportion of voters, not absolute numbers. Otherwise states with primaries would have far more say in the process simply because it’s easier for the people to get their vote out, while states with caucuses get the screwjob.

It’s unfortunate that Michigan voters got hosed, but the state should have followed the rules. Without consequences, the rules are meaningless and it does pain me to think that an entire state loses its say, but let that be a lesson.

Bin Laden tape surfaces concerning Israel/Palestine

Is he alive? Is he dead? This is throwing a bit of a wrench into the mix, but Al Jazeera got their hands on an audio tape purportedly made by the Al Qaeda leader, this one having the terrorist leader going off on Israel-Palestine peace negotiations.

In the first recording, bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping in a “new Crusade” against Muslims and warned of a “severe” reaction for Europeans’ publication of cartoons seen by Muslims as insulting Islam’s prophet.

In the audio on Al-Jazeera, bin Laden said the sufferings of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip began when Arab leaders supported the U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., and the “Zionist entity,” the militant name for Israel

The mention of the Annapolis summit in November was the only time reference given in the audio.

Is it just me, or is bin Laden sounding more and more like an old man who really wants to remain relevant?

However, I really do wonder how history will look at things like this. Is the lesson that you can murder a few thousand Americans, so long as you go into hiding and become “neutralized”?