We have two hotel rooms reserved in the Washington, D.C. area and will only need one. The reservation is at the Marriott Fairfield Inn at the Washington-Dulles International Airport for four nights, January 17th with a checkout on January 21st. The room has two double beds and comes with free hot breakfast every morning. We're asking $250 for Saturday night and $350 per night Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. Hotel rooms in the Washington area are now going from $600 and up if you can even find one. This hotel is mere minutes from the Vienna, VA Metro subway station and is a very short ride into Washington. Cars are not recommended on inauguration day.
If you're interested, contact me at markbrickman2002@yahoo.com or call 650.346.8498. Time for this deal is limited.
If you were busy Sunday night like myself, you're kicking yourself for missing Barack's appearance on 60 Minutes. Well, fret no more. Here it is. I will watch it myself.
All the best!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/16/60minutes/main4607893.shtml
Did you get to go to Chicago to see Barack's acceptance speech? Were you hanging out with them in their hotel room before the event? Would you like a little behind the scenes peak at the event?
Then check this out......
http://flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/sets/72157608716313371/show/
My thanks to my friend Lamont.
There are over a million active supporters of the Barack Obama campaign. At least that’s how many people are a part of the interactive community-based website mybarackobama.com. Among those people are men and women with very unique talents, and every once in a while, one rises above the crowd. I was lucky enough to have found one. Her name is Stacy Beyer.
Ms. Beyer is a huge player in the Nashville music scene. In addition to performing for the purpose of celebrating the hope and promise of the Obama campaign, Stacy is very heavily involved in Nashville’s vibrant Jewish community and writes and performs Jewish oriented music for the purpose of enhancing and promoting the enjoyment and appreciation of Jewish music.
I am very certain that Stacy Beyer’s star is on the rise. Please give a listen and a look to this wonderful video and be a part of something great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN_NNZyh43s
Welcome to the BA meeting, Barack Anonymous. I'm Mark (Hi, Mark.) And I'm addicted to the Obama campaign (groans!). No, it's true. I swear! I have been living and breathing this campaign, and with three days left, I'm not at the Obama office, and it's killing me. I will be there later and work well into the night, but I have a bi-yearly commitment and today is the day. I know I'll survive, but I'm in pain. Just sneaking on to a computer that I found here to write this is a little solace, but I must be with my compadres at the Obama office.
Oh, no...I just thought of something else. What am I going to do on Wednesday? Can I find a BA meeting anywhere? I doubt it. How will I see my Obama friends? Just pop up at their front doors and ask them if I can use their phone to call New Mexico? No, that won't work. Oh, I know...we'll all meet for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, or even Chinese. Yeah, that's the ticket. Oh, and I feel so positive that we'll have something really good to celebrate.
Does anyone else out there in Obamaland not know what they're going to be doing after this campaign? Oh, well. I'll think of something.
George Will is one of our brilliant political and cultural minds in this country. I definitely do not always agree with him, but his astute commentary about the McCain-Palin ticket would be difficult to downplay. This article from the Washington Post is very much worth a look.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102903199.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Come one! Come all!! See what gotcha journalism really looks like. Joe Biden handles it expertly and beautifully, but it honestly looks more like an SNL parody skit.
Give me a break!!! You be the judge...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxT0ELP7az0
Not a Time for Gridlock
This is not your ordinary election. It is a time of crisis in this country. The economy is in a shambles. We have troops fighting and dying on two fronts. We have witnessed a campaign that has opened a nasty wound of racism and hatred. We have seen numerous prominent political leaders violating ethics rules at best and heading off to jail at worst. We have just lived through a political regime that over the past eight years has been conducted like a monarchy.
I have always generally subscribed to the theory put forth by one of my favorite talk show hosts, Ronn Owens, in San Francisco -- who even wrote an excellent book outlining it -- that gridlock was one good way to keep the president and Congress in check and not have too radical a shift to the left or right come out of Washington. But this is not a time that I want the status quo and I for certain don’t want to have business as usual. Not now.
It is a given that John McCain, if elected, will offer a continuation of if not the exact political perspectives on governing this country as George Bush, will definitely offer the same divisive and toxic climate that has persisted in this country for the past eight years. I for one cannot live in that type of climate any longer, and an Obama-Biden Administration will offer a new way of governing, a fresh start, and we must have a filibuster proof Senate of sixty senators to essentially clean house in this country. I am placing my trust in the new leadership of Barack Obama and the old guard Democrats to step up and establish some new direction for this country.
There may be a time when I wish to go back to a little gridlock, but right now, this country needs a fresh start, a new beginning, and Barack and Joe are my guys. I believe that this country will be all right with 58 Democratic senators, because there are a few moderate Republicans who tend to vote with Democrats on many issues, but I will have a lot of difficulty – no. I absolutely cannot stomach John McCain and Sarah Palin in my White House.
We have exactly one week until the most historic election of our lifetime. Let’s do everything we can to make absolutely certain that Barack Obama becomes our next president. Let’s not leave anything on the table. Let’s have no regrets or say, “Damn, I could have done more.” Our time is now! Let’s get everyone to the polls to vote early and let’s allow this country to heal. Let’s remain fired up till Tuesday, November 4th and let’s give Barack the victory that we all deserve.
Thank goodness there are still a few people left in this country who have some decency. McCain paid phone workers in Indiana walked off the job when asked to read a hateful and incendiary script to potential Indiana voters.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/dozens_of_call_center_workers.php
This one with a message. Check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE
My cousin Shelley is always sending me great stuff. Today was no exception. This is absolutely outstanding. Click on the link and be entertained. There is one thing that is a sure bet...the funniest things are also the things that are true.
Thank you, Shelley. And thank you, John McCain, for constantly reminding us that you and Sarah Palin are not the better choice for our next four years in this country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03fcGelz8Hw
We have had a mixed blessing here in the Obama office in San Carlos (Bay Area) California. Enthusiastic phone bankers are bringing their children. These kids are fired up and ready to go, but some of them --although they’d really love to -- are just a little too young to hit the phones.
Today we came up with a wonderful idea that I’d love to share with Obama offices and volunteers all over this great land. This is both a terrific way to get kids involved and a way to get them to be productive and doing something for the man they’re there for, Barack Obama.
With Barack in Hawaii visiting his ailing grandmother, whom he acknowledges poured everything she had into him, we thought that a wonderful way for children to demonstrate their involvement in the campaign and admiration for Barack is to accompany their parents to their local Obama office and create a get well card or a picture for Barack’s loving and supportive grandmother, Toot. Her name is Madelyn Dunham.
Let’s present our children with the most poignant example of volunteerism by coming down to your local Obama office to find out how you can put Obama over the top and allowing your kids to show their support. Let’s make it a family activity and create the path for future involvement and empowerment.
To find your local Obama office, log on to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/statepages.
All get well cards, pictures and any other creations can be sent to Obama for America, Attn: Get Well Grandma (Toot), 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60601. Please limit the size of the envelope that you send because the HQ office is unable to accept large packages or oversized envelopes.
Our kids are fired up. Let’s give them an outlet and something constructive to do for Barack and his grandma.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?scp=1&sq=barack%20obama%20for%20president&st=cse
There are hundreds of articles and op-ed pieces per day which are very good, even superbly insightful, but this New York Times op-ed article is a must-see for everyone, particularly those who are still on the fence or convinced that Barack is not ready for primetime.
Don’t be shy to share it with your friends and family.
http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?r=31274&id=14592-8087924-xnOf3hx&nid=m7bLEZH7PnOmJK44ulMDsDExNDU5MDA
Don't let this happen to you. Don't leave anything on the table. And don't sit at breakfast reading the morning paper and say, "You know, I could have done more!"
If not now, when?
John McCain, I would like to congratulate you. You done good, my friend. I never thought that you or any other politician in my lifetime could bring back McCarthyism. But you did it! Well done. I think it’s a wonderful idea to bring back that homey, warm and fuzzy time when this country sought out citizens that didn’t go along with the wishes of the vast majority of patriotic, well-meaning and hard-working Americans.
The sad thing is that describing the McCarthy era as anything but a hateful witch hunt meant to seek out anyone who uses their brain and dares to think differently than what a few politicians or the mainstream media tell them to think and what to say is just terribly inaccurate. I wasn’t around in the early ‘50s, but it was a frightful time and a horrible blight on a time in our history when this country was emerging from World War II and on its way to prosperity and promise, but also a time when this country was in an arms race and very fearful of the Iron Curtain and the old Soviet Union.
The key element of the climate that Joe McCarthy and his cronies brought to the United States is accusing anyone whom they targeted as Communist subversives, people who hated this country and somehow supported another country or political system and therefore needed to be identified, brought before a committee and blacklisted if this kangaroo court style committee found you guilty of not being one of them.
But the scariest part, I think, is that the accusation was enough. There was many times no basis in fact or reality, and just the mere accusation was enough to destroy your credibility and/or livelihood. If you happened to be in the presence of another accused person, happened to read certain reading material and periodicals or maybe even looked like a non-patriot, that was enough to make them point the finger at you. Does that remind you of anyone’s campaign rhetoric and what we’re hearing lately?
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota yesterday went far enough to bring the McCain-Palin brand of hate into a new focus, actually calling for some sort of study or committee (sound familiar?) to decide which Congress people are true patriots and love this country and which don’t. If this absurd and disgusting idea came to fruition, then I would presume that it wouldn’t be long before this committee started to turn its attention on you and me, and I’ll take a long-shot guess as to which side this committee may find me on.
This is where the hate speech and fear tactics of the new John McCain campaign has brought us. Just the fact that these ideas are being floated should make us very fearful of anyone associated with the McCain-Palin campaign getting anywhere near the White House. Let’s send these bigots, these fear-mongers and these self-righteous racist bullies a message and work our butts off to make certain that everyone gets to the polls and that everyone knows why John McCain should not be our president and why Barack Obama should.
Let's review some recent history. At the last debate, John McCain gave a shout-out to Joe the Plumber. Sounded good, except he just changed a little reality to the story. Joe the Plumber isn't a plumber. He isn't even named Joe. McCain said that Joe wanted to buy a plumbing business and that he'd be overly taxed under the Obama tax plan. Oh, one additional problem...the company that Joe (Sam) apparently works for isn't for sale, and if it was, it is well under the $250,000 profit threshold that would trigger an additional tax under the Obama plan.
To be fair, McCain and his team probably didn't even check into whether Joe the Plumber's story was accurate, but would that have mattered if he wished to make his point? I sincerely doubt it.
Let's face it...it's so easy to stretch the truth or even completely reassign how we normally characterize situations to fit with reality, but I'd rather stick with a candidate who lives within the real world and doesn't need to make things up to fit within his warped sense of what argument he's trying to make.
Compliments of Mark Gershenson, blogger, I bring you this excellent post. He called it: Comment: 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 moose burgers, yours is 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 blackPresident of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive thatRegisters 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Lawprofessor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and HumanServices committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a stateof 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 anyreal leadership experience.* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as thegovernor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to becomethe country's second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a manin his eighth decade. * If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautifuldaughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wifeand married the heiress the next month, you're a true Christian.* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use ofbirth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sexeducation in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends uppregnant, you're very responsible.* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigiousLaw firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up toraise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction andno college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was amember of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, yourfamily is extremely admirable.OK, that makes it much more clearer now???
Barack Obama has set the bar pretty high. Yes, it has been exasperating watching the McCain-Palin attack machine consistently and savagely beating up Obama on a daily basis. And yet Obama has tried his best to stay above the fray, take the high road and stay on message. I realize that I’m not alone, but I want my leader to be more like a Barack Obama than I do a John McCain.
I have to admit that I have never voted for a Republican for president, but I had an open mind about John McCain. I remember back to the 2000 election and thinking that John McCain was a pretty good guy. Except his for his anti-choice stance, I found him to be a pretty good guy. But John McCain has lost his soul. Literally. He has completely sold out. I never thought I’d see a candidate want to win so badly that he would agree to destroy his competitor to do it.
This campaign is defined by the people that support it. Obama drew a crowd of 100.000 to the shores of the Mississippi River yesterday. Barack’s message is fresh, sprinkled with hope and full of promise. It is a refreshing mix of humor, detail and righteous indignation. He draws huge crowds because people want to be near him. If he’s anywhere nearby, they must be with him. They must show their support and hear what he has to say. His opponent has turned the Obama candidacy into a new realm. It is now a cause, and we must persevere.
The people that I spend almost all of my days with at the San Mateo County Obama office are what keep me going. I absolutely adore them. They aren’t just friends; they’re my colleagues. They’re superb people, and they’re fun, And they’re totally dedicated to the cause. The incredible thing is that these people have duplicates everywhere in this country. That is Barack’s secret weapon, and that is why he’s going to win. We all work so hard because it is so worth it. It’s only our country and the future of civilization as we know it.
I am proud to say that I have made thousands of calls to a battleground state, New Mexico in the past couple of weeks. The vast majority of people that I speak with are reasonable, sensible and friendly people, and almost all of them declare their support for Obama. But there was a woman yesterday that really got under my skin, and she cajoled me to check into several of her allegations that Barack Obama was unfit to run, much less be president of the United States.
I did allot much more time to this woman than I usually do, because although I had such a high amount of skepticism while speaking with her, she was polite and expressed herself with sincerity. But I’ve been around the block a few times, and having been involved in this campaign for well over a year and a half, I have had to defend the record and virtue of Barack enough times. But what has happened to people’s sensibilities? It seems that the toxic environment that has been created by the McCain-Palin campaign in complicity with Right Wing talk has encouraged and enabled some people in this country to suspend all vestiges of reality.
So what did I hear? The standard line of Obama haters. Barack Obama is a citizen of Kenya; that his birth certificate is phony and is only a certification of some kind, not an official document. I also heard that Barack’s affiliation with terrorists isn’t limited to William Ayers, but that he literally communicates with up to a hundred domestic and international terrorists. I also heard yesterday that Barack has been intimately involved with his cousin in Kenya , somehow attempting to get him elected to office so that they can combine power and take over this country for Muslims and for Kenya.
Well, I know that these things aren’t factual in any way, and just simple common sense will tell me that. It is beyond comprehension to believe that a United States Senator can be complicit in any one of these accusations without it being discovered long ago. It is also not credible that just one of these issues if not more would not have made it to the mainstream press.
I did express my feelings to this woefully uninformed woman in New Mexico, and she told me that this is understandable, because Saudi Arabia owns half of the American media, even Fox News. When I told her that I just didn’t believe that statistic, she informed me what also hadn’t come out is that Obama has been endorsed by Moammar Khadafi, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and the entire country of Pakistan. She also threw in that Obama would work to eliminate Israel’s existence in favor of Palestine.
I decided to spend sometime yesterday and last night listening to KSFO, the San Francisco Right Wing radio station, and I now understand more clearly where this crap is coming from. I heard that Obama travels on a Kenyan passport, that Obama regularly meets with the Odinga tribe of Kenya and will not admit that he’s part of their political structure and that Obama refuses to discuss his ties to William Ayers and other people who have targeted this country as domestic terrorists.
The amount of hate and vitriol that comes out of several talk programs that I listened to is completely false, and if subjected to a truth meter, I doubt that even one of their allegations can withstand the smell test that anyone interested in facts could expose their venomous words to. But people like me and probably you cannot stand to listen to this kind of hate too long, and that leaves these stations to the people who are most vulnerable to this kind of message and are so filled with rage or hate that they just really want to believe. That is true of this woman in New Mexico who, while feeling that she has truth on her side, is really just listening to a one-sided and biased argument that is preying on just such a person.
I am absolutely delighted that we are down to our last 18 days of this presidential campaign. It will be nice to go back to a little more life as usual and maybe have a lot of these people go back to worrying about how to pay their bills and whether they’ll have a job to go to by the time that George W. Bush and the Republican-dominated Congress leave office and end their dominance of this country.
Contrary to the popular notion that people who don’t know any better simply don’t know any better, I don’t believe that. At least not around here, the enlighted and progressive San Francisco Bay Area where information flows freely and there is plenty of opportunity to avail oneself of it and get to the truth of any political scenario. And yet if one wishes to be a one-source news receptacle and ignore an opposing viewpoint, I suppose that is certainly possible, but that is a choice, not a limitation.
Case in point. My own brother-in-law, who sat in my living room the other evening fast asleep on the couch. His 10-year-old daughter, my niece sat at a table nearby eating ice cream and cookies, and sitting there quietly, out of the blue said, “Uncle Mark. Daddy says that Barack Obama says it’s okay to let babies die.” I was absolutely stunned by this comment, and responded, “Well, does that make sense to you?”
She very thoughtfully said, “Well, he does have two daughters, so no, I don’t think it makes too much sense.” I told her that it was not true and that her daddy was listening to something that he believed and should have known that it couldn’t possibly be true. It is refreshing that a bright 10-year-old can be more introspective and intuitive than her own 50-year-old father. And this is why I postulate that ignorance is a choice, not a permanent restriction and condition.
When my fabulous brother-in-law woke up from his brief snooze, I informed him as to what his lovely daughter had told me and asked him whether he actually told her that or whether she had somehow misunderstood him. He told me no, that he had told her that. My sister immediately gave him a good whack in the arm and chided him for saying that to an impressionable young girl who would most likely believe her dad.
Choosing to be as well informed as I can be and not mired in complete ignorance, I told him that I knew of the misinformation that he had heard and chosen to believe and that it is not only not true, but a complete distortion of a piece of legislation that Barack Obama had sponsored when in the Illinois legislature. I further told him that this piece of legislation to the best of my knowledge simply advised the doctor that in late term pregnancies, the health and safety of the mother is paramount, and if the mother’s life could be spared in a crisis, the doctor was allowed to concentrate on the mother and not put her safety behind that of the baby’s.
My sister, not being particularly well-informed herself, listened intently to what I was saying, and then turned to her husband and asked him if he was listening to me. Also within earshot of this conversation was my niece, who I thought at that point was bright enough and old enough to comprehend our conversation and could take it all in.
I immediately thought of another lie being put out by the McCain-Palin wing of the Right Wing smear campaign. I said to my brother-in-law, “So I bet you also think that Barack Obama advocates teaching explicit sex education to kindergarteners.” He responded, “Yeah. I heard that, too.” I said, “Well, do you believe that’s true, as well?” To which he said, “Well, that’s what they said on the radio.”
It doesn’t provide me with a lot of pleasure to be better informed and more curious than my brother-in-law, but it does make me pleased to get him the information that he needs. But I have no doubt that my brother-in-law still believes what he chooses to believe. Ignorance isn’t just bliss; it’s a choice, and that’s all we can all try to do is make sure that the truthful information is available to everyone. In the end, It is an individual’s personal choice to avail themselves of the information and be well informed. If they choose ignorance, then ignorant they’ll be.
It was the winter of 2007. After an exhausting day of walking through several icy and gritty Reno, Nevada neighborhoods, I returned to the Obama office to turn in my paperwork containing the results of my day, get a debriefing by the team leaders of the office and share the war stories with my fellow campaigners. As I observed the sights and sounds of enthusiastic and energized workers returning from all over northern Nevada, there was one thing that immediately stood out and made a truly big impact on me.
With people lining up at the food table for replenishment and with people returning and breaking up into groups full of laughter and cheer, I heard music playing and at first thought it was coming from a CD because it was so good. And then I noticed a young man sitting at an electric piano playing, singing and entertaining essentially himself. But I was intrigued and sat down nearby to listen and figure out who he was and why he’d chosen the Reno Obama office of all places to perform, and in such a chaotic and frenetic environment.
It soon became apparent that he was just like me, except playing his music was the way he unwinded after a hard day of canvassing, very much like I would stuff my face full of food. I thought to myself that this guy was really good, and not knowing who he was and what part of the country he came from, I just sat there and enjoyed the bluesy and creative style with which he played the keyboard. This guy’s music really appealed to me, and at first I was the only one seemingly enjoying it, but I was soon joined by quite a few people who seemed to also be into the surprise concert.
Well, this young man is named Sky Nelson, and he is not just a very skilled musician; he is a truly nice man. As part of his contribution to the Obama campaign, he has written a song that taps into a theme that has been a part of Barack’s campaign since the beginning, that we are the ones that we have been waiting for. Mr. Nelson has performed this song in many different venues, from his home territory in Sonoma County, California to various stages around Denver during the Democratic National Convention, and he recently received the honor of handing this recent homage to the Obama campaign to Barack Obama himself.
Like most quality musicians and musical acts, the internet is the communication device used for the average fan to find their favorite music, and Sky Nelson’s music is no exception. This is the link for you to find Sky Nelson’s latest video, and it is artistically arranged and very musically pleasing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm97Y_0Nw7g
The song “We are the Ones” is a catchy song and Sky Nelson is performer worth a listen. He has been a very hard-working campaigner for the Obama campaign, and it is his hope that with increasing viewership of his video on YouTube, the song’s notoriety will rise and it will have a much better chance of becoming the preferred song of the Obama campaign. If you like it, pass it on. It’s that simple.
I have been quite impressed with the talent and perseverance of Sky Nelson. Please take a moment and give his new song and video a listen and a look. It is worth your time. For further links to Sky Nelson’s music and philosophy, check these out additional links to Sky’s work:
www.myspace.com/skynelson
www.facebook.com Facebook: Sky Nelsonhttp://www.squidoo.com/wearetheones
