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Thank you!!!!!!!!

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Nov 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am EST

Also listed in: 8 groups

Thank you, God; thank you, Obama! I couldn't be more thrilled that Obama and Biden are our next Presidential team!

Our hope is real; our future is change - change for the better.

Thank you, God; thank you, Obama!

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McCain Denies Black Relatives

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Oct 18th, 2008 at 6:55 pm EDT

Also listed in: 7 groups

Some of McCain's black relatives support Obama

BY ELGIN JONES

In the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Miss., where the ancestors of Sen. John McCain owned enslaved Africans on a plantation, black, white and mixed-race family members unite every two years for their Coming Home Reunion, on the land where the plantation operated.

Some of McCain’s black family members say they are not sure exactly where they fall on the family tree, but they do know this: They are either descendants of the McCain family slaves, or of children the McCains fathered with their slaves.

White and black members of the McCain family have met on the plantation several times over the last 15 years, but one invited guest has been conspicuously absent: Sen. John Sidney McCain.

“Why he hasn’t come is anybody’s guess,” said Charles McCain Jr., 60, a distant cousin of John McCain who is black. “I think the best I can come up with, is that he doesn’t have time, or he has just distanced himself, or it doesn’t mean that much to him.”

Other relatives are not as generous.

Lillie McCain, 56, another distant cousin of John McCain who is black, said the Republican presidential nominee is trying to hide his past, and refuses to accept the family’s history.

“After hearing him in 2000 claim his family never owned slaves, I sent him an email,” she recalled. “I told him no matter how much he denies it, it will not make it untrue, and he should accept this and embrace it.”

She said the senator never responded to her email.

Although Charles is uncertain who will get his vote for president, several of John McCain’s black and white relatives are supporting his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

“I am absolutely supporting Obama, and it’s not because he’s black. It’s because he is the best person at this time in our history,” said Lillie McCain, a professor of psychology at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan.

“We simply need to look at the economy, and McCain’s campaign does not take us there,” said Joyce McCain, Lillie’s sister, a retired engineering manager with General Motors who lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan. “He is my cousin, but we are in dire times right now and people are hurting. Sen. Obama is clearly the best choice to be president.’’

Charles McCain and his wife, Theresa, who still live in Teoc, started the reunions over a decade ago. Charles is the deacon of Mitchell Springs Baptist Church, the only black house of worship in the area.

When Theresa McCain started the family reunions in the late 1980s or early ‘90s (neither he nor his wife is sure of the exact starting date), only black family members attended. But as word spread about the gatherings, white members of the McCain family got involved. Today, the reunion has expanded to the point where it is becoming a community event.

The reunion’s website, teocfamilyreunion.ning.com, has pictures, postings and other information about the family gatherings. While Sen. McCain’s brother, Joe, and many of his other white relatives attend the reunions, family members say Sen. McCain has never acknowledged them, or even responded to their invitations.

“Well, a lot of the people who had moved away and were living up north, would send money to help us maintain the church,” said Theresa McCain, 62. “Myself and others began inviting them back home for picnics, just to show our appreciation.”

The McCain campaign did not respond to repeated questions about John McCain’s black relatives, or about his relatives of both races who support Obama. Pablo Carrillo, a media liaison with the McCain campaign, said the senator was aware of his African-American relatives, but asked the reporter to put his questions into writing, and that someone would get back to him.

After the reporter sent questions in writing, and made repeated follow-up phone calls, neither Sen. McCain nor anyone else from the campaign responded.

Based on information obtained by the South Florida Times, the senator has numerous black and mixed-raced relatives who were born on, or in, the area of the McCain plantation. The mixed races in the family can be traced back to the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Miss., where his family owned slaves.

Sen. John McCain’s great, great grandfather, William Alexander McCain (1812-1863), fought for the Confederacy and owned a 2,000-acre plantation named Waverly in Teoc. The family dealt in the slave trade, and, according to official records, held at least 52 slaves on the family’s plantation. The enslaved Africans were likely used as servants, for labor, and for breeding more slaves.

William McCain’s son, and Sen. John McCain’s great grandfather, John Sidney McCain (1851-1934), eventually assumed the duty of running the family’s plantation.

W.A. “Bill” McCain IV, a white McCain cousin, and his wife Edwina, are the current owners of the land. Both told the South Florida Times that they attend the reunions. They also said the McCain campaign had asked them not to speak to the media about the reunions, or about why the senator has never acknowledged the family gatherings.

In addition to distancing himself from his black family members, John McCain has taken several positions on issues that have put him at odds with members of the larger black community.

While running for the Republican Party nomination in 2000, he sided with protesters who were calling for the rebel battle flag to be removed from the South Carolina statehouse, only to alter that position later.

"Some view it as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage,” John McCain said of the flag. "Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage. I have ancestors who have fought for the Confederacy, none of whom owned slaves. I believe they fought honorably.’’

Novelist Elizabeth Spencer, another white cousin of John McCain, noted the slaves the family owned in the family’s memoirs, Landscapes of the Heart. Sen. McCain has acknowledged reading the book, but claims to have only glossed over entries about their slaves.

“That’s crazy,” said Spencer, who also attends the reunions in Teoc. “No one had to tell us, because we all knew about the slaves. I may not vote, because I don’t want anyone to think that I have an issue with John, but I don’t want to see him become president because I think Obama is entirely adequate, and it’s time for a Democrat.’’

Spencer acknowledged donating money to the Obama campaign and to what she called “Democratic causes.”

Sen. John McCain was born in 1936 at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station, a segregated military installation in the Panama Canal, where his father was stationed in the U.S. Navy. His family returned to the states shortly after his birth; where he went on to attend segregated schools in the Teoc community and elsewhere around the country.

He served in the Navy, where he was a prisoner of war during Vietnam, before being released and eventually running for Congress.

After he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, McCain voted against the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday in 1983. When he arrived in the U.S. Senate in 1986, he joined North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms in opposing the holiday again, and voted in 1994 to cut funding to the commission that marketed it.

John McCain also aligned himself with former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham.

Mecham was the governor in McCain’s home state of Arizona from January 1987 to April 1988, when he was impeached and removed from office for campaign finance violations. As a state senator and governor, Mecham publicly used racial slurs against black people and other minorities. He was also a member of the John Birch Society, which opposes civil rights legislation. In 1986, Mecham campaigned for governor on a promise to rescind the state’s recognition of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which he did in 1987.

Earlier this year, during the 40th anniversary recognition of King’s assassination, McCain, by this time a presidential candidate, said he was wrong for opposing the national King holiday.

Politics in America has long been steeped in the dynamics of the country’s myriad cultures, diverse ethnicities, and varying religious beliefs. Several of Sen. McCain’s black relatives say Obama’s candidacy represents progress.

“He is denying his black and white relatives in Teoc,” said Joyce McCain, 54,. “I think he may not want the country to know his family’s full history, but times have changed and we need to move on, and that’s why I’m supporting Obama.”

n EJones@sfltimes.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Photo: Lillie McCain, left, and her husband, Jack Vickers, right, pose with Joe McCain, center, during this year’s family reunion.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 18 October 2008 )

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2041&Itemid=42

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Biden Absolutely Rocked!

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Oct 2nd, 2008 at 10:50 pm EDT

Also listed in: 7 groups

Joe Biden absolutely rocked tonight!! Gov. Palin showed her obvious inexperience, her nervousness, and her not being ready to lead our country. She spewed out lies about Obama and Biden just as McCain did in his first debate with Obama and continues to do. Gov. Palin claimed that she was a very proud American. Yet a few years ago, she was part of a group that wanted Alaska to secede from the United States of America. Clearly, Obama and Biden are the leaders we need come January 2009.

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Obama Postcard Writers Needed

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Oct 2nd, 2008 at 7:59 pm EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

We're looking for people to volunteer in writing 10, 20, 30, or more postcards with one or two sentences about why you are supporting Obama for President and putting a 27-cent stamp on each postcard. Details are at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/444zy

Please pass the word :)

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Obama Ahead by 7 Points!

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Oct 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pm EDT

Also listed in: 7 groups

Woohoo!! Obama leads McCain by 7 points, 48-41!

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20081001/AP.Poll.Presidential.Race/

Let's keep the momentum going :)

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Typical Republican Reaction

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 25th, 2008 at 7:28 pm EDT

Also listed in: 7 groups

Here we American have-nots are working our butts off trying to make ends meet while the haves propose to take more money out of our pockets and put them into the greedy American corporations' and rich folks' pockets to bail out our (our???) economy. Thank God we're so close to election day! Fired UP!!

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Sarah Palin Qualified? Poll

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 25th, 2008 at 8:38 am EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

[I fixed the link - sorry!!] PBS Now site has an unscientific poll asking if we think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as VP of the U.S. URL: http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html

PBS's info about the poll: http://www.pbs.org/now/palin-poll.html

On the PBS home page, lower righ-hand corner, vote as to whom you trust more to fix this economic mess we're in, McCain or OBAMA :) http://www.pbs.org/now/index.html

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Current Leadership - Where???

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 18th, 2008 at 8:54 am EDT

Also listed in: 8 groups

Regarding the current financial mess our country is in, White House press secretary Dana Perino tells the Associated Press: "While no one would have liked to have ended up in this situation, you have a government that is willing to lead." (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/18/bush.economy/index.html)

If we had a government that was willing to lead, we wouldn't be in this mess. Let's get Obama in the White House and more democrats in Congress.

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America's Values???

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 15th, 2008 at 12:18 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

[If anyone knows who is the author of the below, please let me know so I can give them due credit.]

"I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,
different."

Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers: a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track: you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating: you're well
grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the
first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter
registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as
a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator
representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the
state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in
the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people
while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,
Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you
don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl (sports caster), 4 years on
the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than
7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people,
then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking
executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2
beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real
Christian.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your
disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a
Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the
proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no
other option in sex education in your state's school system while your
unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a
prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values
don't represent America's.

If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until
age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of
Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now."

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Alaskan Women on Palin

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm EDT

Also listed in: 4 groups

Here are some extremely eye-opening comments from Alaskan women regarding Palin. http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Anti_Palin_rally_draws_hundreds_in_Alaska

McCain's idea of change? God help us!

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McCain/Palin Garbage Collecting

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 13th, 2008 at 8:11 pm EDT

Also listed in: 4 groups

The garbage just keeps piling up the closer Election Day comes. I'm betting McCain's camp will quickly try to minimize and cover this event up and, of course, ignore and deny ever having heaped on Clinton for the same sort of thing back when. Let's see what version we get next on Palin's alleged visit to Iraq. http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20080913/Palin.Iraq/

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Lipstick on a Pig

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 11th, 2008 at 8:45 am EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

Wow, the Republican party is so desperate! They are really reaching when they accuse Obama of "smearing" Palin. Once again, McCain, Palin, and cohorts, let's look at the FACTS:

"While campaigning in Iowa in October 2007, Senator John McCain used the popular expression to criticize Hillary Clinton's revamped health care plan, arguing that it wasn't much different from the one she unsuccessfully pushed in 1993. 'I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig,' he said. McCain brought up the phrase again in May of THIS year to describe Clinton's health care plan at a town hall in Denver: 'I don't like to use the term [then why did you use it twice on record?], but the latest proposal I see is putting lipstick on a pig,' he said" (Emphasis is mine).

Entire article: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1840392,00.html

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Obama's Education Plan = Win/Win!

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 10th, 2008 at 8:55 am EDT

Also listed in: 5 groups

Obama has a very progressive plan for improving our country's education system. And I love it! What a step up from, say, where I attend college right now. The teachers at my college can't even find chalk with which to write on the boards most of the time - they have to bring their own. This is a prime example of how NOT in the 21st century our schools are. How pathetic for a developed nation such as ours - and it's inexcusable. I hope and pray that Barack Obama gets elected President this year. Here is a link to Obama's Dayton, Ohio speech on his education plan:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/amandascott/gG5pB4

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New Political Activists

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 7th, 2008 at 12:03 pm EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

I forgot to mention in a previous post how many people I have met who are, like me, actively participating for the first time in our lives in this year's presidential election as volunteers. Instead of "just" voting, we are knocking door to door and talking with people, calling people, writing people, joining people in keeping our American political machine alive.

I am enjoying this process immensely. Barack and Michelle Obama have spurred people like me into action - people like Jane whom I met while working the phone bank. Jane is 60 years old and is, like me in my late 40s, being politically active for the first time (I mean other than "just" voting). I told Jane this is one of the things I love about Barack Obama - he is able to bring people like us out of our American complacency and make us want to be a part of changing our destiny. We can't help but want Barack Obama as our next President!

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Obama=Change; McCain=bla bla bla

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

In yesterday's Albuquerque Journal headlines, John McCain and his sudden new revelation on changes for America took up half the front page. I was incredulous. Obama has been talking about the needed changes in this country for how long now? And suddenly McCain is taking on the theme as his own. He's so used to the same old politics, the same old living off the have-nots that McCain can't even come up with his own direction for the United States of America. That is just appalling.

I am very happy to hear Obama nipping McCain and his cohorts' dishonesty right in the bud. McCain is spending millions of dollars on ads claiming that Obama is going to raise our taxes, bla bla bla. Yet for those of us who care to check out the truth, Obama's goal is giving 95% - NINETY-FIVE PERCENT - of the American people tax breaks.

Because McCain's ad ticked me off so much, I wrote to a number of newspaper editors to list the lie that McCain is telling about Obama's tax plan and then listing all of the tax breaks Obama plans for this country's citizens. At least one of the newspapers is going to publish my letter. I challenge each of you to write a letter to the editor whether it's local, national, or all the above - any time you see another McCain lie on television, radio, or other media, write the editor so that more of the public can understand that McCain is lying and then list what is Obama's truth.

We need to educate as many people as we can these next few weeks. McCain's working overtime on manipulating his way into office. We need to stop that conniving behavior, and get Obama elected!

I enjoyed the YouTube video on this blog of Obama's talk with Indiana folks today, September 6th: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaroadblog/gG5c3W.

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My First Phone Bank

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 5th, 2008 at 6:11 pm EDT

Also listed in: 8 groups

Well that was cool! I did my very first phone bank in support of Barack and Michelle Obama this morning. Only one person hung up on me ;-) Most were not home. A few < gasp > are voting for what's his name. The rest are voting for the right President-to-Be - Obama!

If anyone is considering doing a phone bank or four, I highly encourage it. People were polite if not personable. Even when the one person hung up on me, I kept the goal in mind - getting Barack nominated! So... people can feel however they want to feel - but I want Obama in the Presidential office along with the hard-working, American people-prioritized Congressional and Senatorial teams!

Let's go, America!

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Michelle Obama - WOW

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 4th, 2008 at 9:19 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

I am so grateful for hearing Michelle Obama speak tonight at UNM. She is strong, self-assured, beautiful, capable, assertive, personable, and an effective communicator. She will make an outstanding First Lady! Michelle and Barack Obama will be a powerful and progressive team as leaders of this country. They will take us in directions the majority of us haven't been able to experience in years. The Obamas worked hard and dedicated to get where they are now - and they are excited and dedicated to help lift the rest of us up where we either never have been or haven't been certainly in the last eight years.

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McCain = McCan't

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

Same old politics, same old rip-offs. McCain is dead set on making middle class Americans poor, and poor Americans bankrupt. He's not showing the integrity and good judgment of looking out for Americans; instead, he's attacking Barack Obama and terrorizing anybody less than upper class ($5,000,000 or under). McCain either has no idea or at least no interest to work politically in principles before personalities.

President-to-Be Obama captured it nicely: "If we don’t take our government back, then none of these changes are going to happen...I need your help doing it. We’ve got 60 days." http://www.timesreporter.com/local_news/x392059871/Obama-focuses-on-economy-at-New-Phila-stop

U.S. Rep. Zack Space, D-Dover about Obama: "It's about a leader who trusts the people he represents." Does McCain trust us? Of course not, he's too busy living off of us.

David Plouffe's blog is worth reading: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gG5r4m

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Anyway... Back to Obama (Michelle)

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 4th, 2008 at 8:28 am EDT

Also listed in: Prime Time Women for Obama | Students for Barack Obama | University of New Mexico Supports Barack Obama '08

I get to hear Michelle Obama speak tonight - I am SO excited about this opportunity! How wonderful to hear the next First Lady speak in *my* city just before the elections! And all because of being a middle aged woman working full time, attending college, trying to make a better life for myself. Do you think I relate at all to the Obamas' message? ;-)

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A Secessionist Extremist VP???

By Cory from Albuquerque, NM - Sep 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm EDT

Republican VP-Candidate Palin is against ALL types of gay marriages and gay benefits. Is this the American way? Is this the American mentality? No, this is an extremist's way. This is an extremist's mentality. Do we Americans not have enough extremists in the world with whom to deal, or do we really need in-house extremists as well???

Would someone be willing to remind John McCain what constitutes vetting?

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