Do you ever get that deja vu feeling when looking at DailyKos? Do you ever get tired of wading through hundreds of candidate-bashing comments in the vain hope of finding a good one?

Do you want primary season to end so that we can all go back to being nasty towards Republicans instead?

Look no further. Through a long, scientific process that shall remain secret, I am confident that I have predicted how the Recommended List will look, at least until February 5th, and quite possibly until the DNC.

Well, here we are again. Iowa is done. Obama won it decisively. Tomorrow he'll be up in the NH polls, and will very likely become the nominee. So, I need to start getting used to the idea that he will be just that.

I'm not going to bash any candidates, since I hate the partisan candidate hysterics around here. The "my candidate walks on water while yours is the devil incarnate" comments drove me nuts (which is why I stayed away for a month). All the Democratic candidates are fine people, and will make good presidents.

Still, I have some reservations when thinking about Obama.

Ah, primary season is heating up. I think we're all familiar with the harder tone that the Obama and especially the Edwards campaign have taken toward Clinton.

But Obama wasn't mincing words towards Edwards in an interview with the WaPo.

Fundraising figures are often used in the war of words between presidential candidates and their supporters. But, what is exactly true of those claims, and how are the candidates' supposed principled stances actually making a difference? Let's see if things are as simple as some may have you believe.

Rasmussen has an Iowa poll out. The usual disclaimers applies: Iowa is notoriously hard to poll, but it's always interesting to look, and look at the internals.

It is often argued that Hillary Clinton is too polarizing, and that this is one of the reasons why she won't do well (or at least not as well as other Democratic candidates) in the general election.

But is she really? It is true that she has had everything and the kitchen sink thrown at her for the last 15 years, and that this has defined her. Her negatives are currently higher than other Democratic candidates. But, the negatives that matter are the ones on election day. So, let's look at some numbers and trends from the polls.

I love polls. I'm addicted to them, and even though the primaries are still several months away, I need my daily shot of polls, or I'll go into serious withdrawal.

So, that's why I was happy to see several new ones today. I'll stick to the Democratic primary ones.

"I'm as jumpy as a virgin at a prison rodeo" -- Blanche (Golden Girls)

I realize that the shameless misleading that led to the Iraq war has made us all very vigilant to never let that happen again. However, we owe it to ourselves, after all being part of the self-proclaimed "reality-based community", to always try to examine the facts before forming an opinion.

Today, I stand before you to declare my candidacy. It is my mission to improve the world. I am not quite sure yet which office is most suitable to do this, but such details do not concern me.

If you read the Washington Post editorial titled "The Phony Debate" (and linked off the frontpage with the title "Democratic demagoguery on Iraq"), you come away with the idea that the current situation can be squarely blamed on Harry Reid, and that a solution could be found if only the Democrats were willing to compromise with Bush and the Republicans. It is a strange piece from the bizarro world.

Today's speech by King Abdullah II of Jordan in a joint session of Congress once more brought to light the difficulty of the role of the United States in the most important issue that stands in the way of stability in the Middle East: the Israel-Palestine situation.

While the speech highlighted some truths of the Middle East situation, it was the reactions to it that show that things are unlikely to change anytime soon. A major problem is a lack of open and frank discussion of the Israel-Palestine situation in Congress.

The CIA rendition story is heating up again, this time in Europe. A few days ago, we already saw the story about US terror prisons in Eastern Europe and other places.

Now, more reports are popping up about the CIA, without authorization, using several additional European airports. In several of these countries, investigations are starting.

[all emphasis in the quotes is mine]

Before I continue below the fold, let me just say that these people deserve a Nobel peace prize nomination! Gandhi has nothing on them. And he wasn't Christian, so how could he have possibly been an ethical human being if he does not know the teachings of our Lord.

More details of this emerged in an article in the Independent which focuses on British involvement in this scheme.

Well, that has changed. Details below the fold.