A year ago, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC http://laptop.org ) program began it's innovative charitable giving program "Give One, Get One" through which you can provide a specially designed child- and developing-world-friendly laptop computer. I 'gave one and got one' at that time and it's been a fun way to introduce my now 4-year-old to computers without having to stress about her hurting "Daddy's computer."
I'll admit that it's not the most powerful computer in the world, but I would consider it comparable to an iPhone in capabilities but with a real (though kid-sized) keyboard, and a 4" X 7" screen. I brought ours to the local Obama call center and used it for making calls. It has web-browsing (with a powerful wifi antenna), a word-processor, lots of games, and multimedia capabilities such as a music player, a webcam and movie camera, and a text-to-speech program which is my daughter's favorite.
Anyway, the program is back again, and is being managed through Amazon. You 'Give One' by donating $199 to purchase a computer for a child overseas (they will also receive at least one charging system that doesn't require them to connect to the electrical grid), and can then also 'Get One' for another $200 plus shipping (yours come with an AC adaptor only). http://tinyurl.com/Give1Get1
Donate $30 before midnight tonite (Sunday) and get a "ONE VOICE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD" T-SHIRT as well as being entered into a drawing for one of five pair of backstage passes (with paid travel) to Grant Park Election Night Celebration.
Also, Right now, you can get 25% off your whole order or any other purchases from the campaign store with coupon code: 25OFF
Donating now will help the campaign know how much they can spend in the waning hours of the campaign.
SALON has an excellent article on Palin's "preditor control" program to reduce some wolf populations by "by 60 to 80 percent" despite, (or maybe in-spite) of science to the contrary. Shooting these animals without scientific backing is like sending fugitives to the death chamber without a trial - is that the kind of leader we need running our country?
In addition to options for getting policy documents texted to your cellphone, you can also get Obama ringtones. Obama's Mobile info page has links to preview the ringtones, and to have them texted to your phone. If you want to avoid texting fees and have a way to transfer files to phone, you also download them directly from these links (below the 'fold'):
From Sports Illustrated:
According to sources, Barack Obama's campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing's No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3. Details of the agreement are expected to be worked out over the coming days. ... Ken Schrader will drive the entry, a Toyota, at Pocono for BAM, which is outside the top 35 in owner points and must qualify for the race on speed. The team has run just once since Martinsville due to sponsorship concerns, and has just six top-10 finishes in 167 career starts in the Cup series dating back to '02. According to sources, the team will stick with Toyota after making a switch from Dodge back in the spring.
While I think it's a great idea in concept (it will be paired with a voter registration drive) I don't think they have thoroughlyu vetted the details, for example, I'm sure there will be some grumbling about the car being a Toyota - though I guess it could be a Toyota built in the US.
UPDATE: It seems that the Obama camp is having second thoughts.
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$120.09 to Change the World on 1/20/09
- White, with Obama's Red, White and Blue sun rise logo https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/logotshirt/pf?outreach_page_id=46253
- White with a blue print of a picture of Obama combined with his "Yes We Can" slogan https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/ywcftshirt/pf?outreach_page_id=46253
- or an unbleached organic cotton T with a green and gold version of the logo sprouting a tree https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/organictshirt/pf?outreach_page_id=46253
There are also two 5" car magnets (similar to the soccer ball magnets seen on many cars - including mine) available for donations of $15 (or more):
- Obama's Red, White and Blue sun rise logo https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/logomagnet/pf?outreach_page_id=46253
- Blue, with Obama's "Yes We Can" slogan emblazoned on it https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/yswcm/pf?outreach_page_id=46253
Once hard working, beer drinking Americans hear this, Obama is guaranteed to win the blue collar vote:
John McCain on CNN earlier today addressing the National Small Business Summit in Washington: "I will veto every single beer... err, bill with earmarks."
WOOT!
Thursday, the handmade soap vendor at the Riverdale Park Farmer's Market sells official Obama campaign buttons and after I had been looking at them for a few minutes passed on this anecdote.
She said, "Obama is the real deal, do you want to know how I know?"
I said, "OK."
When she had her booth set up at a DC Farmer's Market a gentleman came up to her and told her Obama was the 'real deal' because he had been in sixth grade with Obama in HI and remember that even then if an argument broke out between some kids, Barack would step in and say something like, "we don't have to do things this way, we can work out our disagreements calmly."
No, not the guy currently occupying the White House.
President pro tempore of the United States Senate, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, has endorsed Sen. Obama for President of the United States, citing their mutual long opposition to the war in Iraq.
Interestingly, he also specifically noted that Obama is a Christian. I guess Byrd might have been a little embarrassed that many residents of his state were still not clear on that point.
The PGA Player's Championship ended today giving Spaniard Sergio Garcia the biggest win of his career. But I was more impressed by the 2nd place finisher, 'journeyman' player Paul Goydos, who despite holding a share of the lead for the entire 18 holes today, bogeyed on 18 forcing a playoff with Garcia. The playoff began at the signature 17th hole with it's famous island green. A gust of wind caught Goydos' tee shot, sending it into the lake. Garcia had much more fortunate luck from the wind, which blew his shot, once it landed, from about 25 feet, to under 5 feet from the pin, where he was able to clinch the win.
One might think that such a series of events would frustrate and anger even the most seasoned pro. Certainly luminaries as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Sergio have been known to real off expletives in response to much less significant setbacks on the course. But not Goydos. After the tee shots on the first (and untimately only) playoff hole, Goydos congratulated Garcia and preceded to play out the hole, even though the outcome was all but assured.
And that is where this applies to the current nomination race. Hillary played a great game, but after the results of IN and NC, the outcome of this contest is also all but final. For the good of the Party, Hillary needs to be a professional in every sense of the word, and congratulate Obama on his victory while quietly playing out the remainder of the event and then give him one final hug and walk away from the course.
PolitickerMD.com is reporting that State Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor and Vice Chairwoman Lauren Dugas Glover, both superdelegates, will be announcing their endorsement of Senator Obama this afternoon.
I'd expect by COB Wednesday, Obama will be even with Hillary in announced SuperDelegate endorsements.
He only won by SEVEN votes (remember this when making GOTV calls, every vote really does matter) and the four pledged delegates will almost certainly be split evenly, but one of the island's Super Delegates has said they will support the winner of the Caucus, and the voters simultaneaous voted in the chair of their delegation who also gets a Super Delegate vote, and he is an Obama supporter.
So seven votes from the caucus goers nets two additional votes for Obama in Denver, and Hillary falls even further behind.
Nedra Pickler (!) of the AP reports that Former Clinton appointed DNC Chair Joe Andrew, without prompting, has switched to Obama based on the state of the campaign, and Obama's handling of the Wright eruption, and Hillary's irresponsible call for a summer gast tax holiday which Obama dismissed rightly as a pandering gimick.
I wanted to second his observation, and add an emphasis to the gas tax holiday issue, which is that because it have the net effect on increasing consumption of gas, it is a stance that no-one who is serious about the environment in general, and Global Warming in particular shou ever support.
Towards the end of the 2nd hour of her Air America show tonight, Rachel Maddow denounced and rejected Governor Mike Easley's use of the word 'pansy' in his endorsement of Hillary Clinton today. Maddow also noted her disappointment that her fellow commentators on MSNBC's Race for the Whitehouse just chuckled at the joke Easley made.
Rachel made it clear that in her opinion, Hillary had just lost the 'pansy vote' of which she considered herself a part (though it doesn't sound like she is ready to endorse Obama yet.)
This continues the pattern of Hillary or her surrogates dismissing, demeaning, or disrespecting the constituents that make up the base support of the Democratic party. Whether it is race-baiting remarks, slamming Move-On, calling Barack's well off and well educated supporters elitist, or now "the pansy vote" it seems that soon the only voters that Hillary will treat as if they matter are the Fox News viewers she'll be courting on the Bill O'Reilly show tomorrow.
On one of the Sunday morning talk shows, a Hillary surrogate - NY Sen. Schumer, stated that Hillary would be able to significantly narrow the pledged delegate gap by winning the Puerto Rico primary, which he said was winner take all.
Having heard this stated before, and having previously seen it clarified in the press that this was a myth (including in the Washington Post's Feb. 11 Fact Checker column Giving it three Pinnochios) I was surprised to hear such a high level campaign surrogate make this statement. I was further dissapointed that neither the Obama surrogates present, or the host corrected his statement.
Clinton Campaign obviously is continuing to 'mispeak' on this issue to further the other myth that Clinton still has a chance to catch Obama.
[hat tip to Article 19 without whom I wouldn't have been sure which surrogate on which show made this claim, since I was hearing the audio only on C-SPAN radio]
Congressional Quarterly is reporting that the date to fill Rep. Wynn's seat in a special election has been set for June 17th.
A special election to fill a pending vacancy in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District will be held June 17 under legislation, signed Thursday afternoon by Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, that allows a speedier schedule than usually allowed under state election statutes. The law, tailored to be effective only for this contest, will allow Maryland officials to skip a step in the state’s special election process following the upcoming resignation of eight-term Democratic Rep. Albert R. Wynn.
Assuming that we will have a breather from Presidential race at that point Obama is busy picking his VP, we can all work together to ensure that DONNA EDWARDS will be in Congress as a voice for PG County.
The Philadelphia Daily News (that is considered the blue collar, btw) and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have both come out with endorsements for Barack Obama.
From the Daily News 4/17/08:
Obama has raised $240 million overall, with half coming in contributions of less than $200. People who contribute to political campaigns can feel they "own" a candidate and so Obama would owe allegiance to the wide swath of America that has financed his campaign. Based on his experience in running a quarter-billion-dollar enterprise with thousands upon thousands of volunteers, we could expect an Obama administration to be well-managed and cost-effective, with the president choosing forward-thinking advisers committed to his program, demanding that they work as a team and pay attention to details.
Obama has raised $240 million overall, with half coming in contributions of less than $200. People who contribute to political campaigns can feel they "own" a candidate and so Obama would owe allegiance to the wide swath of America that has financed his campaign.
Based on his experience in running a quarter-billion-dollar enterprise with thousands upon thousands of volunteers, we could expect an Obama administration to be well-managed and cost-effective, with the president choosing forward-thinking advisers committed to his program, demanding that they work as a team and pay attention to details.
From the Post-Gazette 4/16/08:
This editorial began by observing that one candidate is of the past and one of the future. The litany of criticisms heaped on Sen. Obama by the Clinton camp, simultaneously doing the work of the Republicans, is as illustrative as anything of which one is which. These are the cynical responses of the old politics to the new....Pennsylvania [...] needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.
This editorial began by observing that one candidate is of the past and one of the future. The litany of criticisms heaped on Sen. Obama by the Clinton camp, simultaneously doing the work of the Republicans, is as illustrative as anything of which one is which. These are the cynical responses of the old politics to the new....
Pennsylvania [...] needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.
Sunday, the Scranton Times Tribune endorsed Barack Obama as the candidate best able to lead our country.
Mr. Obama has energized an entire generation of voters that, for the most part, otherwise had checked out of political participation. That, at least, portends a new approach to governance that can help to dissipate the political miasma that has engulfed Washington at least since the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.
