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The whole Pakistan thing
Sometimes it is hard to hear talk about war. But we all know it has to happen sometimes. The bold direct measure that Sen. Obama speaks of is the best hope of ever being able to regain The United States Of America and everything it has stood for since 1776. I honestly feel that most of us do NOT want to go to war. But To many people want to live here but not recognize that living here comes with some responsibility to work together and make a difference everyday here and abroad. America needs to be seen as strong AND empathetic.
Barack knows that some of the choices he will make as president may not be popular. Abrham Lincoln would never have achieved all he did had he not learned to duck and build on the massive criticism he encountered. His insight is worth our consideration: "If I were to try to read, much less answer,all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business, "Lincoln said. " I do the very best I know how- the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won't matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I was right would make not difference."
My feeling is that Sen. Obama has the same inspiration as Lincoln and that he trusts himself and the voice of the American people. Our president works FOR US and we have forgotten that. We have been brainwashed and hornswaggled by the media for so long we just believe what we are told. Even President Bush believed what he was told instead of what was right. Do we need any more of that?
Our president should be our inspiration and light. Sen. Obama is full of inspiration and the light of hope. Once this country was full of children that wanted to be just like the president. Let us get back to that and fill our hearts with The United States of America and President Barack Obama.
Let me pose this question to those of you on the fence because of either Barack Obamas name or race. Listen to a speech of Barack Obama, close your eyes and tell yourself that his name is John Smith....would you vote for him then? I bet you would. I know you would!
I was unable to hold a Unite for Change party of my own this weekend due to prior engagements. But I decided to check out what events were coming to my area (there are usually none, I live in such a rural area) I was happy and excited to see that in the neighboring town of Decorah there was a Unite For Change party scheduled for Sunday.
Kathy was gracious and had a wonderful home acreage. The area was carved out neatly from the surrounding corn fields and seemed like everything Iowa should be. As people began to show up it was nice to see people I had talked with on the blog as well as people I had seen through the campaign back in Jan. Even though this party was out of my county I was happy to be involved with supporters who were proud to be helping out and excited to get things started. It gave me some great ideas for my upcoming party on July 19th. We all introduced ourselves and told our stories about how we became "hope-mongers". Sometimes I forget that I was not involved in politics before this campaign until I tell my story and hear myself speaking the words. That "LBB" Life Before Barack seems like a million years ago. There were people there that were close to 90 and the young and up and coming. One of the younger people there brought up the idea of a "happy hour" for Barack every week at a local bar/restaurant as an opportunity for people to get together in a "less organized" and "less threatening" way. Although calling it happy hour is out of the question she thought of calling it "Barack Hour" but thought that sounded like an evangelical "hour of power" kind of thing. I am not sure what the final name will be but what a wonderful idea to get people to be comfortable and talk about Barack and for those who may not know him to get to know him. We decided that the biggest problem for most people is that they just have not spent enough time getting to know Barack and what he stands for, especially some of the supporters of other candidates. There were woman there that struggled themselves with the choice between the first woman and Barack as well as Edwards supporters that have all come to read up on Barack and fully support him. I know I have not spent a ton of time researching Hillary or McCain so I assume that of others and their lack of information on Barack. We are hoping that we may, by being in a public place, pull others into the conversation or at least get the information in their ears from across the room. There is a huge 4th of July celebration in a neighboring town and some of the people are going to set up a table with information and hope to get some attention there. I think that the opportunity we have on such a patriotic holiday, the one in which we celebrate the biggest CHANGE America ever struggled through, is a great starting point for getting ourselves out their and introducing the biggest force of change this country has seen in 40 years! I know this is not my normal "exciting" post, but I thought the ideas we had might be shared.    http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r13/laurahubka/?action=view¤t=DSC01872.jpg http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r13/laurahubka/?action=view¤t=DSC01871.jpg http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r13/laurahubka/?action=view¤t=DSC01870.jpg First I want to say I am bummed. All but 3 of my blogs have disappeared from my "space" here. I suppose they needed the room, it was getting to full.
How can I express my feelings the other night, the night that the democratic nomination took the final turn towards Obama. The night I sat for 5 hours watching MSNBC, refusing to turn to any other station. I did not want to have any type of Clinton hype on this night. My calander was cleared, my kids were fed and watching a movie downstairs (they are 14 and 15) Every now and then they would come up and check to see how it was going. I did not eat supper, I snacked on some crackers and squeeze cheese! lol ( I never eat it, but I needed something!) To me it just seemed like it was just a game, sitting there and watching the number of delegates needed as it went down and down. I thought to myself, "this is like when I wanted the campaign to put up signs all over Iowa and they waited till the week before the caucuses, It made such a big impact. Much more than if they would have been there all along" They did the same thing with the super delegates. It made such an impact, it was exciting to watch 14, 13, 11, 10, 9.....4! What a wonderful plan. I decided then an there to once again have faith in the campaign, they really do know what they are doing. There are few times that I have doubted them, I knew there had to be a plan. Slow and steady wins the race. As they announced that Barack had won the needed delegates to become the "presumtive nominee" I just held my breath. I held it in, waiting for something, something to happen. My daughter came up stairs yelling "Barack won! Barack won!" I breathed out. I cried, I smiled, I thanked God above, I sent text messages to every Obama supporter I had programed into my phone. I spent the next half hour talking on the phone and sharing the news. I still had an astrick of my own NOT next to Obamas name, but next to Hillarys name. In my brain I was still wondering what was going to happen with her. Hillary disappointed me. I have not held much against the Clintons, trying hard to keep that bridge intact. I was saddened, but still tried to understand her point of view ONCE AGAIN! I was very sad that she leaked out there the possibility of a VP slot. Of course it took up most of the news cycle for the last several days. I felt like she was trying to steal the thunder of Baracks nomination and the monumental task that he had accomplished. What of the 18,000,000 votes that he obtained when running against a "presumtive" winner. Barack ran and WON against "THE MACHINE". There was very little talk of this. Here and there you would hear about this ground breaking accomplishment. For the last two days on MSM and talk radio, it has all been about this "dream ticket" I no longer believe she should get this nod. She was thinking of herself and not the party. It was arrogant and stubborn. It was driven from anger and clouded judgement. We must look at this as what would have happened if she had been given the presidency and came apon a decision that angered her and one that she may not get her way with. What would her "clouded judgement" gotten us into? This was a very telling speech that she gave. I have no mercy in my feelings. One must be a good loser as well as a good winner. Of all the things that Barack has gone though in this campaign, he has shown good judgement and an even temper. I trust him with my life. I trust him with my country, and I trust him with my world. Watching the man I have come to feel is a part of my family, tell the country he was now the nominee of the democratic party, made me feel so much pride. The pride of a nation that by majority looked beyond the color of a mans skin to the what lies beneath the surface. They took a listen to his story and a good look in his eyes. The people may not have liked everything that was said, they may not have liked some of the stories that came out about Barack and some connections he had made in the past. But what they made was a connection, a connection to someone that that was real. Someone who was just trying his best to make some really big changes, someone that had the mentality, enthusiasm and spirit to make things happen. Barack is calm, cool and collected. I believe that to him there is no choice that is a small one. I think that Barack will never jump to conclusions because I have seen him through-out this campain, take his time, ask the right questions to the right people and deliver an appropriate and correct answer over and over again. This is a pivitol time in American history. We have made history, we are part of history. Because of Barack Obama the man, we have become a stronger nation already. Many more people are registered to vote than ever before, people are excited about POLITICS, senate and house seats are being won by democrats! Let us give credit where credit is due. Lets let the campain pick the VP. Lets cover ourselves in the warm light that comes with making history. Lets not worry about things we do not have control over. Lets work together to keep the light shining. We have millions of people to talk to, we have millions of people to register to vote. What is your plan for today? This weekend? Next weekend? We only have 22 weeks! Many of you may know me from the blogs. Lately I have been absent. Mostly because the atmosphere had become negative, but lately just because I love to be outside and the children have also had many things going on at the end of the school year. (Plus my house is a wreck now that I am looking at it and not the computer or TV! I had to clean it up! lol)
I started out over a year ago as just another carbon producing, world populating, world polluting human. I did not belong to any particular "party" let alone to any type of organization that was taking a view, stance or opinion on anything besides the normal things that parents do for their children in school..Band boosters, sports boosters ect. Like most of the world Baracks candidacy was as surprising to me as it was to the world. When I heard Barack speak, he was speaking TO me not AT me. I realized that I had missed out on so many things in my life, chances to speak up and speak out. I missed the point so many times that I had that right to speak out. No one made me feel like I was important to the my local government let alone the US government. This one man, Sen. Barack Obama was letting me know that I was important. His life a testament to real change and hope. I know those words get used a lot in all sorts of circles. But they are the things that we need right now. We need change in a real and decisive way. We need hope to get us there. Barack Obama will give us the tools we need, but we have to step up and take them AND use them. The real world is not a sweet and lovely place. There are people crying, starving, hurting, killing and dying all around us. We can not sit back and ignore this because it is not in most of our backyards. If we do that for much longer it will be in our back yards and it will be much harder to get ourselves right again. Barack Obama has brought out in me the person I should have always been. Maybe you say, that if I had been active all along I would not have been drawn to such a candidate, that I would have gone right to Sen. Clinton. I think that in my heart I know for a fact that Sen. Clinton has done a lot of good for this country and during this campaign I have tried to stay mercilessly positive about her and her husband. I was not aware of the many things they had done because I was not paying attention. They did not want me to pay attention because there were also a lot of things they did that hurt the country. I think that they really did try in their time to do what they thought was right. I know that Barack will make mistakes too. I think that he will own up to them and not try to hide them. I think that he will fix the problem and not sweep it under the rug or try to blame someone else. That is the difference between the two candidates to me. Barack Obama as asked me to do something. To be responsible for my own change and my own hope. Because if we take the responsibility of ourselves and pass it on to others the world will begin to make real changes. We have waited to long for our president and congress to do it for us. We have to be the ones standing up, we must stand up with our new president and let the world know that America is back. We are a democratic nation of hope mongers and change agents. We have always been, but sometimes it was being beaten out of us by the fear mongering they we were sold. We have a real chance this time. There can be a landslide victory for Sen. Obama in the fall. We just have to get the people to the polls. We have to continue the excitement and the hope mongering. We have to continue to believe that we as Americans are better than what the world sees us as right now. John Mcain is really just George W. Bush in older and stiffer clothing. He tends to fly off the handle when questioned and has changed his mind on so many things since 2001 that it is incredible for anyone to think that Barack Obama could not win against him in the fall. We must be diligent in our knowledge and in our persistence to make sure things are done right during the general election right up to the voting booths and counters. We need to volunteer to be a part of the process, we need to get in there and make sure our votes are counted. We will not be denied the White House because we had something better to do that day than make sure everyone that wants to vote, gets to vote. Take the day off work, sit at your local voting station. Get your friends to come. If you are not outspoken enough, find someone who is. We must STAND UP. Stand up and not be held down. We are the people! I can not say that enough. It is in our hands, win or lose it is in our hands. So yes, Barack Obama took a woman who had no way of knowing what the political world meant and made me look it up, become involved and yes, save the world. I am a democrat, I am a proud democrat. Thank You Sen. Barack Obama. I was almost lost to the world. You helped save me. And for this I am eternally greatful. I will repay you with my help in securing you the highest office in the land. President Barack Obama. Now doesn't that sound great? Laura Laura Ahhhh back to where it all started! Finally.
Sorry it took a couple of days to get this written. BUT>>>> I did not get home until 230 AM and the alarm went off at 5AM. OUCH! I worked all the next day and came home to a sewer backed up, which by the way is still not completely fixed. But on to other things. I was not going to go. No I wasnt. Then I was going to go. I called Sandi4Obama on Sunday night to check if she was going to go. She said she just talked to John Columbo and yes they were going to get together with a group and go. We talked about going earlier because we wanted to get up front. I went to bed happy and excited. When I was at work Monday and thought about how tired I would be and how much gas money I would be spending....I changed my mind and decided not to go. I did not want to tell Sandi as I knew I was the "early ride" for her since the others had to work. When I got home Sandi called me and told me to look in my email for a "pass to change" a special pass from the campain (I bet they gave out a thousand of them, I did not know that then) when I saw it in my mail, I changed my mind again and said. OK we are on! I had to take my daughter to the Orthodontist first and then get home and get ready to go, which shirt to wear???lol. Then off I went a bit later than I wanted to leave, but I had to get somethings done like charge my camera battery! I met Sandi in Clear Lake and we were off, excited and talking all the way. Sandi is such a hoot and such a wonderful person, she does so much for others all the time, she gives blood every 60 days, and helps raise money for so many local charities I can not remember them all. We talked about our life history and have much in common. Who knew I would meet up with people from all over Iowa that I would have never gotten to know had it not been for this campaign. We got there about 130 and went through the capitol, I had never been. We took pictures of the senate and some of the old marble fixtures and then walked down the steps all the way to the main street. We got behind the scenes and checked out where Barack would be speaking. We talked to some press and other "over excited and early" supporters. We ended up meeting up with a friend of Sandi's I can not remember his name because I am bad with names. He has a suit on in the pictures you will see. We called him Senator.(I dont think he ever was, he was a teacher-retired). We talked to him about his support of Obama and the times he had met him. We went to a place called "The House of Bricks" and had a Coke and waited. This was about 230 or so, we kept our eyes out as the line got longer, and went outside and figured out that we had our own line for "pass for change" we met a couple of girls there that had chairs and were first in line. We talked to them and started our long wait til 730. The line got bigger and bigger and we started directing people to the correct line across the street for those without passes. Soon it was about 5:30 or 6:00. We had a problem on our hands, people were just showing up and making the line "wider" and not just getting in the back of the line as would be respectful. We had our hands full, but a sweetheart Joe the Secret Service guy who had been hanging out with us for an hour or so helped us out a bit, but people are just rude. ANYWAY.... They let us in early because the street was just too full of people. We went to our assigned area and were a little discouraged because it was in back of and to the right of the podium. But at least we were close. A band played and when they started out with Super Freak, I said...hmmmm does this make anyone think of someone in particular? (ok that was rude, sorry Hillary) we sang and danced around and watched as the MIB, SS and then the snipers all filled up the place. First a woman named Candy spoke. She had a story just like mine. A disinterested, non political Iowan. A Mom, a hard worker and someone who just went along with the tide. She too has been motivated by Baracks candiacy. She is now going back to college, in her 40s to study political science. We knew that Barack would be there soon. We thought he would come from the left but he ended up coming from the right, with Michelle, Sasha and Malia. What a wonderful and beautiful family. They did not quite get to us. I was bummed....but more to come. As Michelle and the girls left the stage so Dad could do some talking the girls came running down and I have a great shot of that in my pictures, they were ready to get out of there, being little girls I am sure they tire of the whole ordeal. The girls waited right in fron of us with the SS and then Michelle came over and shook hands and gave an older woman a big hug. People just love Michelle. She is absolutly gorgous. That Barack is a lucky man considering he is so skinny and he has such big ears...lol Baracks speech was one that showed what a statesman he is. Very gracious to Sen. Clinton and to her accomplishments. I was proud. He thanked Iowa and went on to tell us that he now had the majority of pledged delegates. The crowd went wild! It was like something I had never felt. We all have worked so hard, we have litterly put blood, sweat and lots of tears and sleepless nights in for this one man. To tell me that we should not believe in him is just like saying that I should not believe the sun will come up tomarrow. I have thrown in so much of my life in this, it is truely something that I have staked so much in. The fact that some people can not see the light, does not mean that EVERYONE will not see it if given the chance. I know now more than ever that this fight is the one worth fighting. Barack took on McCain with an iron fist, I for one have been so glad to see Barack going after McCain. This fight will not be easily won against the right sided wing nuts, but we ARE GOING TO DO IT! That is what we are all here for! I am ready and I know that you are too. Nothing can silence the voice of a million voices calling out. Michelle came back out and when they left the stage they went forward and I thought we missed our chance again to shake his hand. But slowly they came back towards us. I shook his hand and smiled at him smiling at me. Sandi talked about her being a Obamacain. And Barack was pleased and said "Thank You". I got a great picture of Barack coming towards us, but his ears look like they are glowing because of the lights. We watched him leave and I realized that never in my life had I met a president 4 times personally in my life. I had just done it. I have seen him 6 times. I thanked God again that I lived in Iowa. Then I thought to myself that Barack knows how lucky he is that we love him so much here. Iowa started it all. I had a part in it. We all did. Wow!........ Sandi, the man we called senator and the girls whe had met in line decided to go back to "The House of Bricks" as I was leaving I heard someone call my name. I did not recoginze anyone, then she introduced herself as Meave! I was so happy. I wish I could have spent more time talking. I felt kinda bad but the crowd was moving and my group was leaving. We went and watched the results come in and watched some people singing Karoke. We left about 11PM and I got home about 230. It was all worth it. What a night to remember. I know I am probley leaving some out. But Sandi can fill you in with a post or two. I may update it as it comes back to me. Right now I need to catch up on some sleep! lol
Here are the pictures! http://community.webshots.com/album/563536255VHoQVZ?vhost=community I know I am gonna get jumped on but here it is. I really think that Hillary Clinton really really thinks that she is the best. I do not think that she holds any real contempt for Barack except for the fact that he is young, exciting and is winning right now. These two groups of people have a large divide and somehow we have to get a bridge there. Hillary and Barack can not do it. We have to. We have to be the bridge. We need to stop the divide and stop harping on one another. If anyone can bring this together is it us. And it only can be WE THE PEOPLE. Indiana BMV office extends hours today and tomorrow!!!!!
--------- **If you do not possess an ID that is acceptable for voting purposes, Public Law 109-2005 requires the BMV to issue an Indiana State ID Card free.** Need A Photo ID To Vote? Indiana’s BMV branches will be open extended hours Monday and Tuesday for voters needing government-issued identification cards or driver's licenses. The new hours follow this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Indiana's voter identification law. It requires most voters to show photo IDs issued by the state or federal government before casting ballots. Indiana's primary is Tuesday. Full service license branches, normally closed on Mondays, will be open the day before the primary from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., local time. On the day of the primary, branches will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Normal Tuesday hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Applicants must provide a primary document, such as a birth certificate or passport; a secondary document, such as a pay check stub or a signed credit card; and proof of residency, such as a utility bill. Regular business hours will resume Wednesday. Link
Here is the site to Iowa state conventions: Looks like Edwards got one from CD1. I think they fell for the Clinton "deal".
Back from the district convention yesterday! Day started at 5 AM for me, in the shower and ready to go by 530. Waited for the two peole riding with me. In the car and on the road at 6AM. It takes about 3 hours to get to Boone from where I am. As we drove we talked about everything you can think of...(ME TALK???lol) After enjoying a week of 70 degree weather it was actually spitting flurries this morning~ But it went away as we were driving. We got there about 830 (so we did good on time~~fast driving!) Waited in a short line and checked in, several of the people running for congress where there passing out water and coffee(no cream and sugar~~my complaint!) as we went into the room and people were checking us in by alphabet(last name) I noticed that a majority of the people checking in folks were wearing Obama shirts and buttons (yay). I of course had lost my letter to get in (I have EVERY OTHER piece of paper from this campaign, but not that) I used my voter registration and drivers licence, they let me in. the next table we spent 7 dollars on a box lunch, to be decided later, so we got a ticket. As we walked in the main room, it looked like a mini National convention. Our counties were up high on signs, alphabetical. I found Howard Co. and we set our things down. We then were approached one by one as the morning went on by the people running for national delegates from both sides. Mostly Obama people. They need to have at least 6 signatures from delegates to be recognized. You can sign any sheet, but do not need to vote for that person in the end, so I signed them all. There was a young girl with a mini booth set up with her picture and other pictures of her doing her Obama thing, setting up students for Obama in her school, canvassing, calling, meeting Obama and the like. Some people had business cards and one woman had a very elegant long card with "I Believe" and the Obama "circle" on the back and her story on the front. some had flyers. All would need to give a speech after the alignments were final and we knew how many delegates we were sending. Some of those peole were so impressive. A 50 something woman with the last name Miller was there, she is the first elected woman and the first elected black woman to represent any county in Iowa! She was awesome. I voted for her in the end. I hope she went. I left before it was over. Here in district 4 it was 3 delegates for Barck 2 for Clinton and 1 for Edwards. We had 507 people there, all alternates were seated because of missing delegates for each side. there were 274 people for Barack 187 for Clinton and 56 for Edwards. As the day went on we heard from representatives for both candidates and voted on special platform groups. People that wanted to go on to nationals had flyers and cards, free cookies and pens to give away (it was pretty cool) By 130 in the afternoon we were ready to spit into groups. Then we split into preference groups and cast our first vote on a ballot after one hour of deliberation(not needed). The votes were counted. The people in the Edwards group went into a special room. The chosen few from Obama and Clinton went in to talk to these people. There were rumors flying everywhere as to the deals. Then the Clinton group on the other side of the room cheered and we were a bit dejected as a few Edwards people came to them. We thought thru the rumor mill that they had accepted a deal that Clinton then offered them 12 delegates to make them viable. That was all the talk! We were dejected, but knew that we at least would not lose a delegate. The story that came out from the Edwards people was that indeed the Clinton people had offered them 12 delegate to keep them viable, but that was only if they choose one of those people to go to nationals! Then the Edwards people asked if they would stay with them at the state level to keep them viable and the Hillary people would not do that. We offerd them 5 of the 6 platform committee spots at state since our platforms are the same essentially and that the reason they were there for Edwards is because they want him to have a voice. We gave it to them, and they came to us. As time went on suddenly the doors flew open the Edwards people came out and all the rest came to us! We only needed 25 people to get to another delegate, we got it as we recieved 32 of them! They were gladly received and were smiling, I of course hugged all that would be hugged! The final count 306 for Obama, 199 for Clinton and 2 for Edwards (non viable) SO now district 4(there are 5 districts in Iowa) is Obama 4 Clinton 2!!!! Pictures here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563227563CUrRuS?vhost=good-times I am dying to know how the other 4 districts went? I heard rumors that Hillary picked up a delegate? But from what district? FIRED UP! I am not going on to nationals,,,but to state. There were people MUCH MORE deserving and qualified than me to go I can assure you! Let me tell you something. Be careful who you send to nationals. Study those people and assure yourself that they will not be swayed. If there is any chance they can be swayed and I am sure the national convention will be much more contintious than this district was, there will be some dirty deeds trying to be delt there. Make sure you send your strongest! Read More »This is the address to the Iowa Democratic Party:
http://www.iowademocrats.org/ht/d/Home/pid/315115
here you can click on your county and print off your convention information (mine was 57 pages long!) and get other information on how to get more involved with your county and state.
Lets do this for Senator Obama( President Obama) lets join, get our "activist" on and make some changes! It will take all of us to be a part of this movement of taking America back!
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!! (not pushy am I? lol)
Cant wait to meet you all!!! I am reposting my response to an other delegate. I hope this answers a few questions. I am new to this too, but from what I understand: NO worries. This is going to be like a HUGE caucus. Come and find me Ill be the one with the Obama shirt on! LOL. Really, give me a call on my Obamaphone 319-231-4396. There is nothing special you need to do except show up and keep the people from your county fired up and ready for Obama. If we win PA, it will be such a turn over I believe. But it will also be a time for those "angry" Hillsters to take it out on some of the weaker Obama supporters. So lets be strong and keep an eye on the Obama supporters the best we can. We need them not to be bullied into believeing something wrong. At this point, no one should be wavering. Lets keep it positive. I mean, nothing but policy differences with Clinton, NO NO NO arguments about pant suits and hair color ect. Nothing personal. Only personal stories about what makes you know that Obama will win in November. This is the questions that NEED to be answered! Please give me a call anytime! I can not wait to meet you! Here are some pictures from the PA debate watching party. We were joined by a few of those running for office in the 4th district. And the local news. Although it was a unsatisfactory debate, something I would hardly call a debate, we had a good time connecting with everyone. I was so happy to see Sandi Lincoln, and Native there! Everyone was so nice and it was just as I imagined it would be if all of us got together. I still think the campaign should send the top 200 people on here somewhere to meet. http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2746047490101683170hRKdKV?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2308154540101683170VLbWHC?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2336935580101683170UBeHmA?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2343394340101683170BKODhU?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2370792660101683170NhCiyi?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2105417290101683170AEFYXV?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2639035370101683170FjAZHs?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2170939700101683170IslGzx?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2986645210101683170UGeCEF?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2819519820101683170xEQknQ?vhost=good-times http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2601790010101683170JiUnLO?vhost=good-times
I just got a video camera for my computer, and have had fun listening to myself talk!
Just wanted to make a personal HI! to everyone here.
have you found yourself pondering what happened to you? I sometimes wonder what happened to the woman who ran her job, her children and life with skill. The woman who watched the local news at night just for the weather. The woman who had absolutly no idea that Iowa voted first. I did not even know that there were primarys and the general election. Why? what? who? where? How did the television programs like "Morning Joe", "Hardball", "Countdown", "John Stewart"," Steven Colbert" "Dan Abrams" and any other show end up on my TV. I just figured out that FOX was republican, WHAT?! I also found out that Carvel is married to that Mary lady.... I am finding out more and more everyday, and I am totally bitter! I was the American that the Clintons and the republicans dreamed of. I was totally unaware and they were counting on me to just stay in my little world and trust them to "just take care of everything" with thier hedge funds, corperate contracts, dirty money and fake promises. Why should they tell the truth? no one is payiing any attention. No one wants the truth, it is way to scary. We are just to stupid to handle the truth. We will all get scared and start asking questions. Then came the skinny black guy with the funny name. I heard him speak. He was different. He is different. I have heard this man get attacked over and over again for telling the truth. This only makes him stronger in Americas eyes. An American president that stands up and tells the truth, what a breath of fresh air. We have lost over 4000 Americans. LOST. as in not getting back, ever. This is a deep scar on America. A wound that can not be easily healed. Thanks to the republican rule of the last 8 years we can not take time off of work to march in the streets, lord knows we can not afford the gas money to get to D.C! I want to make pertectly clear that my intention on writing this is out of pure frustration and bitterness. I want to let the world know that I am an average American. I am not a latte drinking, Prius driving, white collar, Birkenstock wearing liberal. I am new to this. I am as I said, the average American. I work full time, I raise children, I own my home, I drive a American car. I have 4 dogs that live outside on my farm. I was raised in California, I have lived in NV, MD, DC, FL, NC, VA and IA. I know who I am. Or at least I think I do. I know who I used to be. I was a sleep walking through my life. A walking political dream. Now I am considered an "activist" for the entire hospital I work for. WHAT!! everytime someone comes to talk to me, I smile. I think it is funny. Especially when they ask me a question and I have the answer....easily. I spent a day traveling with my boss. We rarely have the time to talk at work. AS soon as I got in the car, she started on the political thing "so" she said "tell me about this race, so like, who is who and what is going on" I let her ask me questions for the entire hour. If I did not know the answer, I passed on the question and let her know that I did not have the answer. I then decided that thank God she was with me asking questions and not someone who was republican, then I was taken back by my thoughts. "I am a liberal" I am influencing people. I need to make sure I am keeping up on this stuff. I need to be right! I now have a responsibilty. It is a huge one. If I misspeak just once, I will lose credibility. I was a little freaked out. I have really gotten myself into it deep. I am proud of myself and of everyone who has gotten involved in this movement. I am glad to take this on. I will raise my awareness of this process like I have raised my children, to the best of my abilty, with the best of intentions and with the upmost of hope for the future. Thank you Barack Obama for this opportunity. Thank you fellow bloggers for the encouragement to keep it up. Thank you to my husband and children for putting up with me and listening to me.
I would like to welcome Kevin to our group. He is the Iowa district 4 organizer! Here is his name and contact information
Contact: Kevin Geiken If you are a delegate for district 4 and have any questions please contact him. He is a member of this group and you can also directly contact him by clicking on his name in the "members" area of this group and send him a message! I hope to get the other organizers to join as well.
Let us know you're attending your Congressional District Convention
On Saturday, April 26th, Iowa's five congressional districts will each hold a Congressional District Convention. We need as many Obama supporters as possible to attend and help make sure we win as many delegates as possible. Convention locations are below.
Please note: by signing up below, you are NOT registering for your Congressional District Convention. Iowa Congressional District Convention Locations Congressional District 1 Dubuque Senior High School Contact: Nathan Blake Congressional District 2 Mt. Vernon High School Contact: Kevin Geiken Congressional District 3 Valley High School Contact: Nathan Blake Congressional District 4 Boone County Fairgrounds Contact: Kevin Geiken Congressional District 5 Mid-America Center Contact: Kevin Geiken There was a time when politics meant absolutely nothing to me. I was like everyone else I knew. I sat around and complained about what was happening but felt like there was nothing I could do. I am scared of the way things are changing for the worse. I am tired of America trying to save the world by going over to other countries and bombing them. I know, just like most of the rest of the world, that this has not worked and will not work. We have a chance, a once in a generation chance, a chance to choose something different. I call it real change. How can we as Americans, look real change in the face, and let the chance pass us by? How do you argue against change? Why would you argue against positive change? Just because someone has many years being exposed to politics it does not give them the building blocks for change. Not for positive change. I know that not being involved for most of my life makes be seem like a naïve fool for making these statements to those of you who are dyed in the wool democrats. But I am a citizen of the United States of America and I have lived here my entire life. I have lived in 8 states from coast to coast. I have visited more than 23 of those states and met people from all 50. I like to talk, and have engaged in many a conversation. I have been a student, a military veteran who served my country for 10 years, I have worked in hospitals for 24 years. I have lived an American life. Married, divorced, remarried, children, birthday parties, insurance payments, house payments, living paycheck to paycheck. I have done it all. I feel that maybe my life spent away from politics has given me a perspective that matches that of 90 percent of the people in America. I believe that what we have seen in America this primary season is the activation of so many people, people are watching. Do you think that this many people would have registered to vote if Barack Obamas campaign, driven by a strong grassroots organization, was not in action? Can you not see what he and his message are doing? People all over the country are tuning in. Some 600,000 more people have voted for Sen. Obama than Sen. Clinton so far. That is not just a few. By the end of this race there will be probably be over a million! Republicans are switching to democrats just to vote for Obama. Yeah, I know, there are those Rush Limbaugh Republicans that switched to vote for Hillary. But not for the general election, they are there to bloody up Obama for now. This should tell you all something. The republicans are afraid of Obama. They know he can win. And I believe so do you. Right now there are so many people upset because they want their candidate to win. So many are saying “I won’t vote for Obama if Clinton is out or I won’t vote for Clinton if Obama is out” We really have to think this through. McCain is getting free reign right now. Have you heard what he is saying? He said he was in Germany the other day with their president Putin! Putin is in Russia! He said that Iran is training Iraqis! He was corrected by Lieberman 4 times in one week with this! He admits that he doesn’t know anything about the economy, the people he has surrounding him for advisors are Bush clones! We do not need a puppet for a president. I know Clinton is better than even this. But she too is a puppet with many debts and favors owed to many lobbyists and other high profile politicians. This is what being in politics has done to her. She is political minded and this does not work to our benefit. We need someone who is not afraid, for political reasons, to do what is right. We need someone who does not distance themselves from the truth just because it would be politically damning. The truth can hurt when you’re doing the right thing. But once it is out there, the relief is wonderful. We would not have gotten this far in our nation without all of the voices calling for change. The Civil War, The World Wars, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the 60’s, all voices calling for change. Here we sit 2008 calling for change. Will that call be answered? Or will we be stuck in the past refusing to move on? I do not think the people of this nation will allow it. If I have to I will start a people’s movement. I am one person yes, but it only takes one voice calling for change to start something big. Barack Obama has asked us not only to stand for him, but first he has asked us to stand up for each other. His call to service is something I have not heard in my lifetime. I am 43 years old. How can this much time have gone by without someone asking us all to give something? Everyone has it in them to make a difference. We were just waiting for someone to make us feel that doing something would actually make a difference. That someone is Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton does not move me to do anything for my country. She makes me want to stay home and let her just do whatever it is she does. We need a president that makes our country work for itself. Not someone who just wants us to sit back and not pay any attention while they do whatever it is that they do in Washington behind closed doors. We have a better chance at becoming a great nation again with Barack Obama at the helm. I am not alone in my belief. I am not alone. There are millions of “me’s” all over the country. We will not be silent!
I know that there is a little more than a month till our district conventions. But I suggest that you keep in touch with the other delegates that are going to the convention with you. I suggest you get a list of the delegates with at the very least the phone numbers. Make sure ALL alternates are kept in the loop as well. You never know when they will be needed and they need to be included because they too stood up for Barack at the county convention! Stick close to each other. We all have a common purpose. We all have a resolute dedication to making Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States. It is going to take every last one of us to make it happen. This is the time to pull together like a family. Get to know each other and have at least one meeting or more before the convention. There are prob. people that have attended a convention before. If there is not one among you that has gone before, contact your local Democratic party and try to find a supporter amongst them that has attended before so you will know how it works. It is going to be a lot like your county conventions but to a much bigger degree. Figure out how you are all going to get to the convention, who is going to drive, where you will stay, ect. Get each others cell phone numbers and pull from each other strengh when you are down. We need to be strong at the conventions, each and everyone of them.
Stay strong. We will stand up for Barack till the end!
The video below provides bits of the backstory for our discovery of a potentially devastating method of rigging MAIL IN VOTES, AUDITS and RECOUNTS. Black Box Voting is currently doing proof of concept testing on our "Theory of a crime" and will release details next week on how it's done, so that preventive measures can be put in before November. We'll see how the ballots and the special "optical scan marking pens" being sold by vendors actually perform in our tests. Any information you can provide on the specific paper stock and especially, the paper coatings used by ballot printers will be much appreciated right now.
Information leading up to this discovery came from a frame-by-frame analysis of video, including these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txoLlfrBENk (pay close attention to the last segment) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOESAfrPSKI We believe it is possible to undetectably alter thousands -- possibly tens of thousands -- of paper ballots, using a technique known as "check washing." This would require applicator bottles (for ballot alteration in a vehicle during transport), paper towels, and in central ballot storage locations, for large quantities, cans of odorless paint thinner, denatured alcohol, or acetone. Our upcoming tests will show if our theory is correct, whether it can be done in a van, how many ballots can be done per hour, whether the special "AccuVote marking pens" sold by LHS Associates and Diebold (Premier) are easier to "wash" for remarking. These two "ELECTION REALITY TV" videos above are prequels; video of our demo will be released next week. Maybe our theory of a crime won't work. We'll see. The new video, linked above, shows top-level New Hampshire state officials lying about chain of custody matters. In one particularly bizarre incident, they attempt to hide the fact that ballots are sitting right there in an area of the warehouse (at 5:20 pm) that they have emphasized is "closed" at 4:30 pm. When a citizen catches them on video in the "closed" area, they simply deny that the ballot boxes are ballot boxes! Earlier, they had staged a bit of public theatre in which they made it a point that "Hoppy" of the Butch and Hoppy ballot transport team, will have trouble going back to get his bag because the area is "closed" at 4:30. But after dark at 5:20, a Connecticut citizen named Walter Reddy caught top state officials and Hoppy on film in the very area that was supposed to be "closed", and the next night at 6:54 pm, a Florida citizen named Jeannie Dean caught them again. Apparently the state officials did not realize the ballot boxes (empty and otherwise) had been caught on video, and after saying "those are not ballots" they hurriedly turned out the lights! Imagining state-level public officials standing there in the dark would be comical if it didn't represent the rape of our democratic republic. The same boxes identified as "NOT ballots" are later identified, on camera, as Rockingham County ballot boxes, by the same state official who claimed they weren't ballots the night before. Of course, we knew they were ballot boxes, because we followed the ballot pickup van during Rockingham County pickups! So what did they do? Open it up and deal with ballot intake and chain of custody in a properly public and transparent fashion? Nope. The next night, New Hampshire state officials engaged the services of a police dog to obstruct citizens from looking in the window -- aROOH-ROOH-ROOH! (Nice doggy.) Sarasota citizen Jeannie Dean, teeth chattering in the frigid New Hampshire night, zoomed in with a camera and boosted the sound on her video and once again, caught 'em in the act of secretive ballot delivery in the dark, wandering around in areas already proclaimed "closed after 4:30 pm." "They" included New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan, New Hampshire Archives Director Frank Mevers, Archives Records Manager Brian Burford, and of course, "Butch and Hoppy" -- Armand "Butch" Dubois and Peter "Hoppy" Falzone. A public records request by Black Box Voting for documents pertaining to the assignment of the K-9 unit has elicited "There are no records." We asked for phone bills, New Hampshire officials have said it will take 90 days to find them. We have asked for checks, credit card receipts, etc. for cleaning supplies, paint thinner, smocks, latex gloves, etc. They say it will take 90 days to find them. (Or find which ones to purge? Guys: We have your stuff on video.) Much of what I've just told you relates to next week's proof of concept testing. What you will see in THESE videos is the backstory that helped us figure out the mechanics of how a massive ballot-tampering operation could be accomplished with just a few key people. This project, funded and produced by BLACK BOX VOTING, used the concept of a rolling calvary of experienced citizen voting rights leaders. We collaborated on video targets and shared our videotape. Using combined evidence captured by several different citizens were we able to piece together how the New Hampshire primary could have been stolen. CHAIN OF CUSTODY AND VOTE SUBSTITUTION: Along with voter eligibility fraud tactics and computer tampering, these will be "all the marbles" this November for mail-in votes (Oregon, Washington: nearly 100 percent; California, Arizona: approx 50 percent; Ohio, New Mexico, approx 30 percent.) Chain of custody and vote substitution can defeat any manual spot-check and, as we saw in New Hampshire, can nuke the validity of any recount. IS THERE ANY WAY TO SECURE ELECTIONS? YES. Citizen controls! "Get it right on Election Night." This is not about "bipartisan" observers who are political party operatives and hacks. This is about CITIZEN CONTROLS. Because the instruments of government that we have created, and our votes -- our method of exercising control over the government that we have created -- belong to US, not "them" -- not the government, not political parties. US. U.S. We the People. AND NOW, ABOUT THOSE COMPUTERS... Following another investigation, requiring months of diligence and plenty of computer and public records experience, JIM MARCH, JOHN BRAKEY, MICHAEL SHELBY: Maricopa County Arizona have produced an in-depth citizen evaluation: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/73271.html The article above provides the overview for a number of issues discovered in the largest location in Arizona, the most systemic -- national in scope -- being their discovery of an illicit component in the Sequoia voting system. Pay special attention to Appendix A in the full report: http://www.bbvdocs.org/sequoia/Maricopa-County-Elections-Report.pdf * * * * * And as for the many locations that still use paperless DREs or fail to audit chain of custody and procedural safeguards, as they say in New York, "fahgeddaboudit." There is no reason whatsoever to trust those elections. YOUR DONATIONS ARE NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER, TO WATCHDOG 2008: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html or mail to: Black Box Voting 330 SW 43rd St Suite K PMB 547 Renton WA 98057 Black Box Voting is supported entirely by individual citizen donations. The Speech: I did Barack, I did. I let your words get to my heart, my soul. I sat and cried, I prayed that everyone in the world could hear your words. I wanted a healed America NOW! I must be patient. I must do what I must do to get you to the White House. Please let this be done!
Arianna Huffington
On Clinton's Tax Returns, a "Frankly Disturbing" Lack of Transparency, and Surrogate-ancholy Posted March 17, 2008 | 12:33 PM (EST) It's hard out there for a surrogate. Especially for a Clinton surrogate being asked why Hillary Clinton has not released the last eight years of her tax returns. ... There are 20 years worth of returns that have been released. What's missing are the last 8 years -- years in which Bill Clinton has been making money hand over fist, and involving himself in all kinds of interesting financial deals (see Ron Burkle, Yucaipa, and the ruler of Dubai). Lowry then quickly pivoted away from tax returns (clearly the 20 year line, as lame as it is, was the only arrow in her quiver) to make points about earmarks and the terrific work Bill Clinton's foundation has done on HIV/AIDS in Africa -- neither of which Russert had asked her about or have anything to do with tax returns. ... While Clinton has been tossing verbal bouquets to McCain and attacking Obama for not being "vetted," Obama has been living up to his promises about making government more transparent. Not only did he release his latest tax returns in April 2007, he also just made public his list of earmarks, and sat down at the end of last week with the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times to answer all their questions about Tony Rezko. ... to ask what her policy as president would be regarding the transparency of huge donations from foreign interests to her husband's charitable fund (see the $31.3 million donation and additional $100 pledge to Bill Clinton's foundation after he helped a Canadian mining mogul secure a massive uranium deal with Kazakhstan)? ... In short, it's well past time for Hillary Clinton to be as "vetted" as she claims to already be -- and to have this vetting done now by Democratic voters rather than later by GOP hit squads. She needs to live up to the standard she laid out for Rick Lazio, the opponent in her 2000 Senate race. At that time, she said it was "frankly disturbing" that Lazio was holding back on releasing his tax returns. What a difference eight years -- and tens of millions of dollars (some of them from questionable deals) -- can make. Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.
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