Ladies and Gentlemen and Politicians. Welcome to edition #1 of the carnival of politics.

This week’s carnival is brought to you by Yearblook.com - a contest to find the best blog posts and then put them in a book.

Keith Darrell of The Redhawk Review contributes The Only Political Sin: A comparison of the response to Spitzer and the response to Obama’s pastor.

Baron Vitelius of Brainiac Conspiracy shares Five Years Ago . . .: A brief reflection on the week the war started.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton of NoisyRoom.net contributes Shame On You Sir, Shame On You…: A commentary on oppression today vs. before the Revolutionary War.

Jared Tracy of Opportunity’s Knocking Jared’s Head provides Campaign Tip for Obama #3: Conservatives have been talking about how Obama was “race baited” into his speech on race. Yet, everyone hasn’t even noticed how all anyone can talk about now is Obama. All attention is on him.

Seth Weinberger of Security Dilemmas brings us What Is Justice In Uganda?: Uganda is caught between a rock (ending its bloody civil war) and a hard place (its obligations to the International Criminal Court) and how it resolves the situation will impact not only Uganda but also the larger relevance of international law.

Irene Garcia of Corruption Chronicles sent in FDA Favors Drug Co.: FDA compromises public health to cater to big drug companies.

The Anon Guy of Dullard Mush contributed Candidates Roll Out The Fundraising Gimmicks: With the end of the fundraising quarter fast approaching, candidates resort to a variety of contests to fill their coffers.

MyBeema of Beema Blog - Humor brings us Presidential Candidates Meeting In The Middle: Beema’s anchorman discusses what seems to be a meeting in the middle of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain.

Andy of Political Realm contributes Senate Watch: News & Notes: A look at the latest news from Senate races across the country.

Jeffrey Stingerstein presents UN Chief Condemns Airing of Film, But Condones Murder of Monks in Both China and Burma posted at Disillusioned Words.

John Phillips presents Best Qualified Candidate posted at The Word On Employment Law, saying, “Picking the best candidate for President/commander in chief”

Lori Jewett presents Coming Together for Change posted at Between Us Girls, saying, “The glory days of radical individualism are coming to an end. If we really want change, we have to join hands to make it happen.”

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Presidential Election Blues posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Sammy Benoit presents Democrats are “Torn Between Two Liars” posted at YID With LID.

Sammy Benoit presents YID With LID: US-Arab Activist Says Obama is Hiding Anti-Israel Stance to Get Elected posted at YID With LID.

Phil B. presents Tax Returns are Too Complicated << Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, “It’s that time of year again when Americans _try_ to figure out how to fill out their tax returns.”

Wendell Sherk presents Consumer Bill of Rights: Privacy Not Included posted at Credit Law Network, saying, “The House Leadership is still earning the ropes, judging by how easily they were hoodwinked by the credit card industry in a recent hearing on the Cardholder Bill of Rights.”

chris presents John McCain Remixed..! posted at DropKick MonKey, saying, “Funny Remix of john McCain Interview”

Sammy Benoit presents DEMOCRATS, STUPIDITY and CAIR- They Just Seem to Go Together posted at YID With LID.

Lucyp presents You Silly Girl Hillary posted at Falling On A Bruise.

Raymond presents The IRS Economic Stimulus Notice Letter Is A Waste Of Taxpayer Money posted at Money Blue Book.

DWSUWF presents George W Bush made Moqtada al-Sadr posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall, saying, “This is a case where it is literally true that “What does not kill you, makes you stronger.” The Bush administration bungled or interfered in opportunities to kill al-Sadr in ’03,’04, and ’05. The Bush administration facilitated the means by which he could acquire political power. As a result, the Bush administration are the agents of and reason for his emergence as the most popular political figure in Iraq, and quite possibly, soon to be the most powerful.”

Thanks to everyone who submitted links.   We are actively looking for hosts for future editions, please contact me using the contact form if you would like to host.

Welcome to the Carnival

The carnival wasn’t supposed to officially start until a week from now, but we’ve received enough submissions that we’re going to go ahead and have a pre-inaugural edition. This week’s edition is divided into two parts: “Elections” and “Drugs, Sex Scandals, Religion, Truth and Humor.”

Elections

Layla Elizabeth Gonzalez of The Hill Chronicles writes The Oprah - Obama Link: Oprah is saying nothing and staying true to distancing herself regarding the direction Wright’s ministry took. Oprah now is in a bind. She endorsed Obama, but she cannot come out to defend Obama while outing Wright to help him now. If Oprah were to do this then she would not only be complicient in admitting that she knew the truth, which is why she left Wrights church, but if she knew, that means Obama knew.

Trish of Pensito Review writes Dean Comes Under Fire for 48-State Strategy: Howard Dean seems to believe that the Democratic candidate can take the White House even while losing the electoral college votes of Florida and Michigan. He imagines that Democrats will be so strong they will trounce McCain without breaking a sweat. Recent polls don’t bear that idea out. Dean was wrong once before, about his own chances. We will all be screaming like banshees if we let him bungle again.

nunoftheabove of nunoftheabove provides Friendly Fire May Bomb Obama: After a week of trying to distance himself from the inflammatory remarks of his former pastor, Obama may still be hurt by the incendiary remarks made by the new pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ during the Easter sunrise services.

dandelionsalad of Dandelion Salad forwarded along an article written by Peter Phillips entitled An Election Without Meaning: “Will November 2008 bring a meaningful change to America? Will getting rid of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney without impeachment or indictment really make a difference? Will a 600 billion dollar war/defense budget be cut in half and used for desperately needed domestic spending? …”

Yitzchak Goodman of Judeopundit contributes Some metaphors for the current state of the presidential race: Excerpts from opinion articles which try to sum up the Hillary-Obama race in metaphor. Inspired by Maureen Dowd’s odd “Terminator” metaphor. I hope this isn’t a repeat submission.

Drugs, Sex Scandals, Religion, Truth and Humor

Anon Guy of Dullard Mush contributes Grandma’s First Aid Kit: Another Casualty of the War On Drugs: How the war on meth even affects people who just want to buy iodine for scrapes and such.

The Dean of Cincinnati of The Cincinnati Beacon writes Ohio Board of Regents Potentially Engaged in “Unethical” OGT Training Programs: (Cincinnati)—Justin Jeffre, a multi-platinum recording artist from the band 98 Degrees turned independent media activist, continues his investigation of the Ohio Graduation Test—this time sending formal requests for the Ohio Board of Regents to justify its funding of teacher-training programs in terms of Ohio’s “standards for the ethical use of tests.”

Manila Ryce of The Largest Minority provides God Damn America - The Fear of a Mortal Empire: A commentary regarding Christian liberation theology as it relates to Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s speeches.

Michael Alexander of Sonicfrog.net brings us “You Want The Truth? You Can’t Handle The Truth!”….: Hillary has a vivid recollection of event surrounding a trip to Basnia. Too bad the actual events don’t match her description of the trip.

MyBeema of Beema Blog - Humor brings us Spitzer Tries To Defend His Actions: Eliot Spitzer refers to his political brothers in the sex scandal category; Bill Clinton and Larry Craig who want to have nothing to do with Spitzer’s company.

Thanks to everyone who submitted articles, if you’d like to submit an article for a future edition go to www.carnivalofpolitics.com/submit. The real inaugural edition will be here again next week, after that hosting is open at www.carnivalofpolitics.com/signup-to-host.