The Primary Season is winding down, all the gifts are bought,  wrapped, and under the tree. How many UIDs over 80000 will go inactive when the wrapping paper goes to the recycle bin?

Senator Kennedy is doing well. More power to the Last Living Liberal Lion!!

Arnold is down with the CA SC ruling. The wingnuts are going nuts. Life is good.

We have excellent chances to make inroads in traditionally Red Zones. We will pick up lots of seats in both houses.

It's been a few days since the last Hunter Rant Diary. It was a great one, meta potential dripping from every adverb.

^However...

More or less below the fold.....

A diary aimed at the coldly analytical among us, the members of a website ostensibly dedicated to the election of Democrats. At no point do I mean to praise, impugn, malign, nor endorse any candidate or supporter. My person is on hold, campaign-wise, and I am going to vote for the person who I deem most likely to win based on the hard numbers alone, as long as there is a (D) after their name.

When it all boils down, a Democrat in office is better than a Republican. Even if some policies might not change much, most will improve dramatically. And Dems do respond to pressure from us. Imperial Repubs respond not at all to the electorate, us or otherwise. There are vast differences even if some don’t see them all.

More Below the fold.

Super Tuesday, Jr. Edition of Cheers and Jeers From The Very Middle Of Central Carolina.

You all look beautiful this fine morning. Temps are expected to be in the 70s, with cloudy skies and late day storms here in NC. The exceptional drought continues.

Cheers to the cities who are realizing that clean water is precious.
Jeers to the people who had rather water their lawns than have something for the kids to drink this summer.
Cheers to BiPM and CSM. In KW. I'm jealous. Really.
Cheers to Andy and the fine batch of Stand-ins. May the snark flow like water. (That can't be right. We have no water.) Make that: May the snark flow like lies from the White House.
Cheers to the Pool and the Kiddies who splash in it each morning.

Continued below the fold.

I need to read a good rant. Too damn hot to write it myself.

We are suffering through the third atraight day of plus 103° temperatures in Central Carolina. Brains are frying out on the sidewalk. People are stunned, stunned I say!

Folks are getting hard to impress anymore. Actual Canadians have to burst into flames and disappear in a puff of vapor before attention is paid. It has happened already. Don't laugh. The town gossip has a sunburned tongue.

More below the melted fold.

'Evening Folks.

I have a few personal thoughts to share.

We are here to get Democrats elected to public office. That is the only way to start the healing process and minimize the scarring resulting from the wounds inflicted by the NeoCons and their enablers. On that point we can agree. I hope. We cannot create change until we are in a position to make changes happen. That should be our mantra.

But we seem to get distracted quite easily, to the delight of the very NeoCons we hope to defeat.

We like to fight/snipe/get snippy among ourselves. While this might be satisfying, it does give ammo to the enemy. There is no sense in getting nasty. We agree on far more issues than not. We should concentrate on those points. We should lean on the candidates to define themselves to us. Not let our squabbles define us to the NeoCons. And allow the NeoCons to define us to the greater public.

We can be very "one-issue" to the detriment of the larger picture. Everybody is entitled to their priorties. Of that there is no question. Then again, we can allow more Republicans to get elected because our nominee did not come out strongly on our pet issue. We lose sight of the goal.

Danger Below The Fold.

Good Morning on this April First. And it's Palm Sunday. Is this some cosmic metaphor born out of the Chocolate Jesus brouhaha?

Not late breaking news.
Sitting around, waiting for the noon hour when the teebs have to be in town for a monthly street fair (waiting also for the scattered showers perdicted today), drinking coffee, listening to the local info-stream on TV. A normal small-town Sunday morning at the teeb cabin.

Anyway, I took a look at the birthday list for today. What stood out was that some of the bouncing babies should have been posting in this forum.

More beneath the fold.

I was sitting around, watching my basketball pool selections get unselected this evening. Naturally, out of desperation for something of substance to do, I log on to Dkos. No new Front Page stuff since this afternoon. Must be watching the games, too. Some pretty good diaries to read. OK. Some really damn great diaries.

So, I looked at the usual sources for birthdays and various anniversaries, stuff generally reserved for C&J. Just to see who might get overlooked. But something else struck me. Several of the people who have influenced my life, through words or action, appeared in the lists.

More below the fold.

Selflessly Throwing My CyberBody On The Kiddie Pool Grenadine So That Others My Have Time To Prepare A Proper C&J For Your Edification During The Long Night Of Bill in Portland Maine's Key West Debauchery. Oh, and from the fog shrouded Central Carolina STMCbOTKPGSTOMHTTPAPC&JFYEDTLNOBiPMKWD© Headquarters.

Good Morning, Kossacks. Hope you enjoyed your respective evenings. Consider this space an escape zone from the Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, miracle baby, local horror-story-of-the-day and Australian-Gets-Bitten-By-Shark news barrage. (Although the Australian guy was pretty cool on Letterman last night.)

First Things First. Give it up for Number One: Had George Washington nailed that corporeal immortality thing, he would be 275 (that's 1925 in dog years).

More C&J below the fold.

Good Morning From The Substitute C&J Bunker In Central Carolina.
(I can't believe they took out Valencia. That's gonnna leave a mark.)

First Up: Cheers to Bill, Andy, and All of you borderline crazoids Lovely and Talented Kossacks who splash in the Pool.

Jeers to Condi's Three Way in the MidEast. Is there any reason to believe that this trip will be more productive than the others?

It's a lucky break that the Traditional Libation here in the Pool is Rum 'n Coke. Screwdrivers are gonna get real expensive. According to the AP and everyone else, the citrus growers in the West are feeling fresh frozen.. Jeers to that. Sympathies to the growers.

More Swoosh/Gong Pure. Comedy Gold. Stuff Below The Fold.

Good Monday from Central Carolina©. The Pool Is Open!!
(Substituting for Andy, who normally does Mondays, who normally would be substituting for Bill.)

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. -Elvis

Cheers: Elvis Presley hit the ground Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Miss. You might think he's watching TV in that Great Jungle Room In The Sky, but I happen to know that he is working undercover at a convenience store in Siler City. If you can't find him there, you can always go to Graceland. Or here, where the residents are more subdued.

Cheers: Stephen Hawking was born today in 1942 (Black Holes and Baby Universes). Scary Smart. And he has the snark gene, too:

I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

More Cheap, Generic C&J below the fold.

In the normal course of dKos events, lists such as this would get posted in Bill's C&J [or in the diaries posted by his assorted minions (Andy, etc.)]. But today is Saturday. So the question becomes: How do we aknowledge the people and events who/which represent the mileposts of history and culture? On an off day?

The answer: Publish a diary. What else?

Just a quick note to let you'll know we are out there and quite blue!!

I know a lot of folks think the whole region is beyond hope. Not so to those who live in the areas growing and growing bluer.

As a white, male Liberal Southerner, let me tell you this: When I lived in the Big Apple some decades ago I was shocked at the level of racism I found. Maybe some of the shock was because we in the South been slammed so hard over the years for the conditions here that we naturally assumed that other regions were damn near perfect.

It ain't so.

Good Morning from Central Carolina. I say that figuratively. (Literally, the morning sucks dead bears. Cold rain, high winds with a high around 44°.)

On the Eve Of Turkey Day, let me say thanks to all the Kossacks who play in the pool.
Thanks to the progenitor of the pool, Bill, and his Faithful Minions in Maine.
Thanks to the people who keep the water clean swirly when Bill slacks off takes a much-needed break.
Thanks to the regulars and the iregulars who keep the snark sharp and the perv nervy.
Thanks as always to the Rescue Rangers and Top Commenteers.

New T-Shirt Slogan: DELETE this Administration, NOW, Kos!!

A little bit of a diary to vent, cheer or kvetch in before the day goes nuts.

Cheers to Cheers and Jeers and the fun it provides during the endless fight against the NeoCons. Thanks to all the people who play.
Cheers to the Live Bloggers.
Cheers to the Voters.
Cheers to all the hard work paying off today.

Just for the hell of it. Or a place to comment on the news dumped Friday. Or for the Left Coasters to play while the Easterners sleep. Or to make irrelevant snark. Just don't tell the grown-ups.
Well maybe because I missed all of the Rum and Cokes Friday©³

So I figure if you can't have fun with your friends when they are playing in the Pool, you sneak in after hours and make your own fun. (And far be it for me to criticize, but this place is a mess! Towels and various suit pieces everywhere, furballs underfoot, paper cups strewn about. What is that sticky stuff floating in the shallow end and why are the filters clogged?! What do you people do when the lifeguard is on break?)

By the way, the Rum Cabinet was not locked. Really, I swear.

No wonder Bill takes Mondays off.

Here I am, standing on the outside, looking at you on the inside looking at me on the outside, looking in. We miss you, Shel. But Happy Birthday wherever you are.

The Kiddie Pool Is Open. Ya'll have at it. No running poolside. Keep the suits on while the pumps are running. It's a bitch to unclog the drains.

I got past the guard again. It's getting easier. My fake ID really helps. The Heat-Seeking, Laser-Guided Camels have been replaced by Ex-DHS airport inspectors. Better tell Bill. Everything's ready for the Monday Snarkfest. Had some trouble with the Liquor Locker. I might be able to bend the door back into place. Swabbed the Pool and refilled it to the brim. Someone really left a mess! Clean towels are stacked in the closet, beach chairs by the hot tub all nice and neat. Cheetos, generic sodas, and chips & dips are in the club house. No Cokes today. Sorry. The chlorine to clean the water ate most of the budget.

Funny how gas prices fall as we get closer to November. Is this part of Cheney's Secret National Energy Plan? Nah. I must be paranoid.

Happy National Crabmeat Newberg Day. At least we still have shellfish.

Greetings from Central Carolina.
Had a really nice weekend: Live music, Great food, Excellent company

(If you see this diary, it means that the Pool had no obvious attendant on the schedule. Or that I missed the memo. I found the key in the parking lot and now the gate is open. If the Real Cheers and Jeers shows up, please migrate over there.)