I haven't engaged in debunking Obama emails, but this one insulted my candidate and my Christianity so I wanted to take action lest others receive it and think less of Obama OR my religion. This message claims that "Revelations 13" has predictions in it that point to Obama being the anti-Christ. It claims to describe the anti-Christ as being "a man, in his 40's, of muslim descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language and have a massive Christ-like appeal" It claims he "will promise false hope and world peace." It then urges people to send around the email.
Checking with my NIV study bible, I find almost everything about that is wrong from a biblical standpoint. Here are the glaring un-truths...
On July 15, I had the honor and privilege of visiting the offices of 6 members of Congress with my IL colleagues from the RESULTS advocacy group. RESULTS is a citizen's group that advocates against hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. The first office we visited was of our very own jr senator, the Honorable Barack Obama.
I'll break the suspense right here. We didn't meet him. Nor did we expect to. I rather hoped he'd fly in and out as the Lantos-Hyde global health bill was to be voted on that day, but he may have been privy to knowledge that I didn't have (duh!) and known that it was to likely to pass by a large majority. So, he wasn't around, but we had an appt with ne of his foreign policy aides as our focus was on global poverty.
I'd never been to a senator's office before. Much smaller and less glamourous than you might think. Good for a taxpayer to see :) We were not the only visitors. A US soldier was there picking up a flag for a family member along with some tourists complete with 2 little girls all dressed in red, white, and blue from their dresses to their hair ribbons. His lobby is filled with Chicago pics and literature. My partners were disappointed it was all Cubs stuff, but hey...I'm north-sider. I didn't mind. But...down to business
After profuse thank you's for the Global Poverty Act support, our first order of business was the mentioned Lantos-Hyde act. It's main purpose was to expand US resources to fight three diseases of poverty around the world: TB, HIV/AIDS and Malaria. Our exciting, breaking news to talk about was a point of order that came up the day before that could have killed the whole $50 billion proposal! We were there to urge that it be waived and to oppose the 10 amendments that were meant to weaken the bill. We had no idea whether or not he would be in town for the voting, so we did our pitch as if he were. Obama supported the bill anyway, so we were only following up on the breaking news. Going further in our requests, we asked him to support the Education for All Act (S 1259) which seeks to provide basic education for all children around the world by: authorizing $3 billion by 2012, requiring the president to prioritize basic education funding and strategies for the most disadvantaged kids (child laborers, girls in remote areas, orphans, the disabled, etc), eliminating school fees, funding for refugee camps, etc. Obama is NOT a co-sponsor as of 7/10/08 and we urged him to become one. Clinton was the original sponsor...could that be why he was previously not on her bill? Well, if that's the reason, it's done with, so we want him on it now. There was an appropriations ask as well to speak to other senators on our behalf since the State and Foreign Ops committee was to consider its spending bill on 7/17.
So those were the issues on the table. We still don't know why he isn't a Education for All sponsor, but we'll follow up on that later. His aide was polite, but busy and it was a good experience to start the day. We also got gallery passes there so we could go into the Senate chamber during the Lantos-Hyde debate...which was pretty dang cool since Durbin was speaking in support of it when we were there. Later that evening, one of his aides showed up at a banquet RESULTS threw, which was an extremely nice gesture for his office to make!
Hopefully, that will be the last time I get to lobby in SENATOR Obama's office and I can direct my comments to PRESIDENT Obama next time!
ccyl
http://endpoverty-ccyl.blogspot.com/
I'll write more about this later, but suffice it to say that I am beyond ecstatic that the Lantos-Hyde bill passed yesterday!!! It was my extreme pleasure to be lobbying for it with about 200 other RESULTS activists on the Hill the morning it went up for votes in the Senate. I was in Obama and Durbin's office voicing last minute concerns about the amendments and a potentially damaging point of order that could have killed the whole $50B bill. Obama supported this legislation prior to the vote, but the staffers could not tell me if he was in DC at the moment of the vote. They said he would likely fly in and immediately out if he was going to participate, so I'm curious to see if he made it or not. Our other IL senator,Dick Durbin, was not only present but speaking passionately in favor of the bill an hour or so before the vote. I was so excited to be in the Senate galley while he was speaking.
Regardless of whether Obama was there or not, I'm all heady with the feeling that one person can really help make a positive difference in the world!!!!
An email from Barack Obama regarding a recent letter I wrote to him regarding poverty, the food crisis, and the need for more international emergency aid. -ccyl-----------------------------------------------------------------Thank you for taking the time to write about hunger and poverty throughout the world. I completely agree that we can and must do more to address the global food crisis. The rising price of food is causing immense hardship for the world's poorest people. According to the World Bank, an estimated 100 million people may be pushed into deeper poverty and hunger because of soaring food prices. Press reports have described the crippling effects of the high prices and the suffering of those who are most vulnerable, especially young children. The risk of civil unrest is significant in dozens of countries, making this an important global security issue as well.
(more in the extended post text)
I've heard some pundits say that there is not really such a thing as a 50 state strategy. That at some point there are not enough resources and that while a campaign may SAY 50 states, they don't really mean it.
I'm a believer in grassroots movements. I know there is a limit to the amount of resources a campaign can spend, but there is no limit to the passion, energy and excitement of regular people. We are the untapped resource. Obama was right about one positive thing about the extended primary season was getting all 50 involved in the process. We just have to continue all this good momentum and organizing. The campaign can set the vision, but WE can get Obama elected.
Yes, we can.
Dear Friends,
Many of us took the time over the last year to travel to help Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and our earliest and most frequent destination was Evanston's "Obama sister-city," Cedar Rapids, IA.As you know, Cedar Rapids has endured historic flooding, and we're heartsick to see the damage to this wonderful city. I'm urging you to donate to the Red Cross Chapter in Cedar Rapids, to help this city down long road of rebuilding and recovery.The Grant Wood Area Chapter6300 Rockwell Drive NEP.O. Box 10375Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0375Phone: (319) 393-3500Fax: (319) 393-1841E-Mail: grantwood@grantwood-redcross.orgWebsite: http://grantwood-redcross.org/
Join people from all over the country who are walking the halls of Congress on Tuesday, June 17, to speak up for hungry and poor people. This is a great time to call Obama (and Durbin) if you are an IL res...or your own elected senators and reps if you are from another state.
During Bread for the World's annual Lobby Day, hundreds of hunger activists from across the United States are visiting their members of Congress, asking them to increase funding for poverty-focused development assistance-- real programs that can make a significant contribution to improving the lives of the world's poorest people. Learn more about poverty-focused development assistance.
Let your voice be heard, too. Please call your members of Congress on Tuesday, June 17, and ask them to increase poverty focused development assistance by $5 billion in the fiscal year 2009 budget. Use this special toll-free number, and ask to be transferred to your senators' and representative's offices: 1-800-826-3688. Find out who your members are.
Talking points:
Thank you!
ccylBread for the World member
It's official. I just joined RESULTS yesterday!RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS is committed to individuals exercising their personal and political power by lobbying elected officials for effective solutions and key policies that affect hunger and poverty.
As a RESULTS member, I'll be attending the national conference in July and attempting to visit my members of Congress and inviting them to attend our banquet. As an IL resident, that means my members of Congress include Sen Obama. I understand he may be a little busy right now, but even getting in to speak with his staff about poverty issues would be great!
For more information about RESULTS, visit www.results.org!
- ccyl
This was my favorite volunteer activity I have ever done at the Depository. Think about your box of cornflakes... hundreds of crunchy flakes perfectly formed and waiting for your consumption. But what about the crumb at the bottom. What about those crumbs back at the factory? All of those crumbs are still full of needed calories and nutrients, clean enough to serve and eat, but just not pretty enough to sell. Thousands of pounds of crumbs that could be wasted. But because of places like GCFD, they are not wasted. They are donated by the manufacturer, repackaged, and given to those who might use it as delicious breading or eat it as cereal. Less waste, more food for the hungry. A perfect solution.
The crumbs are useful. Not to be discarded. I'm sure there is a metaphor here for all the Americans who feel they have no voice and are not cared about. But they should not be discarded. If all those cornflake crumbs can come together and feed the hungry, surely we can gather our people together to support Obama and feed the hungry through changes in public policy!
Watching McCain repeatedly try to play off Obama's tag line ("That's not change we can believe in!") while standing in front of a ton of "A Leader we can Believe In" posters irritated me at first. Then I realized that is incredibly lame. He doesn't have his own inspirational message OR delivery, so he's borrowing Obama's. Just like Hillary's supporters kept shouting "Yes, she will" when they couldn't think of anything catchy on their own. And guess what...?"no, she didn't!" McCain's going to have to do a lot better than uttering lies (he claimed that Obama supports commodity subsidies, takes special interest money among other things, and is waiting for jobs to come back to the US...all opposite from Obama's actual positions) and borrowed slogans. Because right now, that behavior tells me that he is really worried.
We only have 2 days left for our virtual food drive. Thank you to everyone who has participated so far! We raised a bit over $500 for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Since they can turn a dollar into 4 meals, we managed to feed about 2000 people. Good going, group!
The drive will end on May 31 (probably at midnight) so there is still time to get your donation in if you haven't already. Here is the link to donate to the Greater Chicago Food Depository or other food banks across the nation.
http://vad.aidmatrix.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=2682
note: GCFD does not support any particular political candidate or party
Just a reminder that there is one week left in the Obama Supporters Food Drive. It is hosted on-line through the Greater Chicago Food Depository, but there is an option to pick a food bank close to you if you are not local to Chicago!
Here's the link:
Please join us in a show of support in honor of our favorite candidate!
Note: The Greater Chicago Food Depository does not endorse any particular political candidate or party.
From the Washington Times yesterday...
"The 2008 farm bill is indeed a mixed blessing ("The minority farm-bill vote," Editorial, yesterday). For hungry Americans, it's a relief that this bill, so late in coming, finally passed. At long last and much needed, the Emergency Food Assistance Program increases will start flowing in a time of rising prices and rising need. Yet it's shameful that the legislation doesn't address some root causes of hunger and poor health.
If ever there was a tool to fight poverty on both domestic and international fronts, this was it. We missed an opportunity to limit commodity subsidies that are damaging to our own farmers of modest means and poor farmers overseas who cannot compete with our artificially cheap crops. We kept in place the subsidies that make unhealthy processed foods much cheaper than fresh vegetables.I sincerely hope that in five years we can have this debate again and pass a bill that will limit our destructive behavior instead of just giving ourselves another Band-Aid."
