Celebrating the Birthday of the Founder of our Party
(Thomas Jefferson, b. April 13, 1743)
Please help us honor a noted scholar, statesman, architect, archeologist, horticulturist, philosopher, inventor, lawyer, paleontologist, and chief author of the Declaration of Independence, and 3rd President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson--the founder of the Democratic Party. When President John F. Kennedy welcomed forty-nine Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House -- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
Honor a life of exceptional achievement and service on behalf of the common good of the people by making a generous donation to the Obama campaign at one of the following levels:
• YES WE CAN! Club - just $2.05 (Jefferson is on the $2 bill and the nickel)
• GOT HOPE? Club - only $4.13, or really dig deep and join the
• FIRED UP AND READY TO GO! Club for $17.43.
Make your donation on my Obama page, or your Obama page, just make a donation if you can!
"We the people" are the sovereigns of this nation--not Presidents who act like Kings, not plutocrats or corporations who own their own political party, and not those who think they are entitled to government office because their families happen to be political dynasties. Let's elect Barack Obama-the candidate who best embodies the true spirit of the Democratic Party and the wisdom of its founders!
Top 10 Reasons to Be Proud to Be a Democrat!
1. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
2. "Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it."
3. "It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."
4. "Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits."
5. "War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses."
6. "Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe."
7. "It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness."
8. "An injured friend is the bitterest of foes."
9. "I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another."
10. "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
-wisdom courtesy of Thomas Jefferson
Please feel free to repost & pass this along as many times as necessary to raise some big bucks for Obama '08!
Our goal is to raise 4,131,743 by April 13, 2008!
I guess the video from the other day proves it. Bush is a dancing monkey--trained by Dick Cheney, big oil, lobbyists, and mega-corporations. The RNC may believe putting a dozen more monkeys in the oval office with typewriters will solve the problems at home and abroad, but Americans know better.
It's time to tag Dubbya and release him back into the wild.
VOTE OBAMA!
-By LARA JAKES JORDAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Rep. Rick Renzi was indicted Friday on charges of extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other matters in an Arizona land swap scam that allegedly helped him collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs.
A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million. . .
As part of the alleged scam, Renzi and his former business partner, James W. Sandlin, concealed at least $733,000 that the congressman took for helping seal the land deals, the indictment says.
"Renzi was having financial difficulty throughout 2005 and needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and to maintain his personal lifestyle (emaphasis added)," the indictment says.
The indictment accuses Renzi of using his position as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee to push the land swaps for Sandlin, who was also charged. It comes after a lengthy federal investigation into the land development and insurance businesses owned by Renzi's family.
For more see:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080222/D8UVG2U86.html
Bush campaign toadie gets off for phone-jamming Democrats get-out-the-vote drive.
See:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/02/bush-campaigner-acquitted-in-new.php
Anyone have any ideas of community action events we could do to keep Obama's profile high in NE so we can get people back to the primary and then to the general election? Maybe something like serving the meal at Siena House or something else like that. Maybe doing a volunteer afternoon at the Vet's Hospital? Anything to keep Obama in the news in Nebraska. Maybe wear your Obama gear if you have some.
I think traditional campaigning is very valuable--but not for everyone. Good press goes a long way too.
Wouldn't it be a DREAM to see Nebraska in BLUE on election day?
Just another reminder of why Sen. Obama is the best choice.
Another professional politician not walkin his own talk. Didn't McCain learn ANYTHING from the Keating 5 mess?
(Although doesn't it seem like the Times sat on this article as a FAVOR to McCain so he could sew up the nomination before it came out?)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?hp
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
As strange as that sounds, it's true. Why like Mike? As long as he stays in the race for the Republican nomination, he forces McCain further into the waiting arms of fascists and other fans of Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and their ilk. That's good news for us in the general election.
It's clear from the stats that there are mass defections from the Republican Party this election. When voters in Virginia claim to be more conservative than they were four years ago and the Dem primaries and caucuses are doubling their numbers around the country it points to the at least the possibility that regular Republicans have finally become sick of cleaning up after Karl Rove and the other hijackers of their party. You can get people to vote against their own self interests for only so long. . .
Even McCain himself has been making a modest attempt at escape from the ultra-right-wing of American politics. But it appears that Mike Huckabee and other radical Conservatives just aren't quite ready to let him go. Strange considering McCain wasn't good enough for them earlier this year. Apparently just being a plain old conservative isn't enough for the "Republicans" these days. But when regular rank-and-file Republicans pushed back against those dictatorial talking heads and voted McCain anyway, like crabs in a bucket, the radicals had to have him back.
Its clear Huckabee is staying in the race to force McCain further to the right, which is fine by me. The question is whether he will resist. I don’t think McCain is strong enough to declare himself the new sheriff in town and drive the Coulter-Limbaugh Gang out. For most regular Republicans, I think it’s too late anyway. Many have already chosen to move on. The question is whether the leaders will let them go. We as good Obama supporters and democrats have to be ready to help deprogram newly escaped Republicans—with acceptance and without blame. Being victimized by your own party is traumatic enough.
I hope that we can draw a quiet attention to the defectors though. The Independents will probably be fine. They had the strength to avoid getting completely pulled under in the first place and I don’t think the weakening Republican Party can entice them to join this late in the game, at least not with the recent defectors serving as After School Special.
So I say, play on Mike! You keep on driving a wedge between McCain and the Independent and Republican voters he needs to win the general election. Maybe, with any luck, our guy will be running against you in the general election.
It's interesting how NY Times Columnist Paul Krugman points out that "Nixonland" style campaigning/politics unfairly target Hillary Clinton for harsh judgment for whatever she does. Worse, he claims, much of this irrational Clinton-hatred comes from Obama supporters. Only video could confirm the feeling one gets from reading the column, that Krugman is shaking a gnarled finger at GenX and GenY voters for engaging in the kind of despicable campaign tactics the Republicans and Karl Rove all but patented over the past 20-some years.
First, I don't hate Hillary Clinton. Truthfully, I was Hillary supporter early in the campaign due to the one-sided campaign coverage. Mind you, I don't mean one-sided in the sense that Clinton gets most of the coverage. What I am talking about is the way the press covers Obama--they portray him as a one-hit-wonder who can only excel at emotional appeals.
As an attorney, I understand the value of a good emotional appeal. However, I suspected that there was more to Barack Obama than was making it into the news. So I went to see him speak at the Omaha Civic Center to see for myself what the press and pundits don't or won't talk about. I was not surprised to hear Obama talk about real, substantive issues and pragmatic strategies to overcome these obstacles--what we weren't seeing on TV. By the time I was leaving the arena, I had converted.
Mr. Krugman would agonize that I am one of many mindless lemmings latching on to the "cult of personality." I can see how someone who hasn't done any of their own research might get that idea. But with all due respect to Paul Krugman, Obama supporters DO look at the issues-even if it takes some "due diligence" on our part to seek out what the press won't readily show us. We are not hero-worshippers simply because we support a candidate who looks and acts like the rest of us mere mortals. Nor do we all venomously oppose Hillary Clinton and assume evil intentions drive all her actions.
What surprises me is that Clinton supporters decry that she is the only candidate who truly knows the machinations of Washington and can deftly maneuver them. But if we take Paul Krugman at his word, apparently she doesn't know them well enough to avoid the multitude of vicious and unfair attacks that seem to pursue her wherever she goes. No offense to Paul and the other Clinton supporters who feel this way, but she doesn't get to be Wizard of Washington while also simultaneously being a victim of the same.
Seems like the pundits just think people like Barack because he inspires. While paritally true, it's more likely the case that while the American people revolted against the pressures of being forced into the Ward and June Cleaver molds, our candidates seem to like being Ward-like and Junesque. People want a candidate who looks like the rest of us, real and perhaps a little imperfect here and there. For the rest of us, watching Ward and June up there at every election just drives home the point that in order to succeed in America, you can't be yourself anymore. If you don't fit the mold, you are a loser.
So I think you have to give it up for Barack. Unless you are raised in that vacuum-sealed environment, you are not perfect enough to succeed in America today. Watching someone who appears to just be himself is a relief to most people. If he can do it, maybe I can too.
This morning, as I stood elbow to elbow with other folks (some long time Democrats and many new) jam-packed into our caucus site, a song popped into my mind and I couldn't stop it. There’s symmetry in that since this song is about a train going coast to coast picking up the faithful and offering hope to those who need it most. Who in America could not use a little more hope?
Anyway, I couldn't help but think of this old song by the late Curtis Mayfield--People Get Ready:
People get ready, there’s a train a comin’
You don’t need no ticket, just get on board.
All you need is faith to hear the diesel hummin’
Don’t need a ticket, you just thank the Lord.
So people get ready for the train to Jordan,
Picking up passengers from coast to coast.
Faith is the key, open the doors and board them
There’s HOPE for all among those who love the most.
There ain’t no room for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own.
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner,
For there’s no hiding place from the kingdom’s throne.
So people get ready--there’s a train comin’
You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board.
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’
You don’t need no ticket, just thank the Lord.
I believe, I believe we’re gonna make it,
We’re gonna make it as a human race.
I believe, I believe, I believe,
You don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.
