My hat's off to Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) for displaying the political courage necessary to help put the Affordable Health Care Act over the top in the House of Representatives last Saturday night.
Rep. Mitchell is that rarest of figures in the Washington political establishment: a man who stands for what is right and what is needed by our nation — not what is politically safe in his district and seems most expedient to his own reelection chances.
I realize that you didn't cast your vote in the health care reform debate to make me happy, Rep. Mitchell, but you did that and achieved something else, besides: You made me proud of one of my elected representatives in Congress.
Now, if we could only get Senators Kyl and McCain to rise to the same standards.
i posted several photos i took at the Monday morning march for Health Care. They are a set on my FlickR website. Please cut and paste the attached link. I tried to 1) document the march, 2) capture all the wonderful homemade signs and 3) capture the energy and spirit of the marchers. Sadly, i have 1 photo of Protesters with their GUNS.
If you take a look at my photos and you like them please let me know. i am proud of them and really enjoyed the documenting the all the great people that came out in support of Health Care/Insurance Reform.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellenpierce/sets/72157621990546489/
MadamaAmbi reports about hawking a film festival at ASU/Tempe (Friday Oct. 17, double feature, one about Obama, one about McCain), about being recruited by a fellow member of Jews for Obama to call Florida, about DIGGing & Twitting, about voteforchange.com, about being old, tired & arthritic and about hanging in there these last few weeks of the campaign...
click to listen...14:35 min.
also, check out double feature, An American Boyhood: Obama in Hawaii shown with The Real McCain, put on by The Big Picture Film Series at ASU, Friday, October 17, 7:30pm, Discovery Building, Room 250
The Big Picture Film Series
Hey all. Me and my best friend are putting together a demonstration in front of the McCain-Palin headquarters on 16th Street & Missouri. Come one, come all! Show your support for the Obama-Biden ticket by bringing a sign, wearing a t-shirt, button, anything! Just show your support for the best chance at change for this country, which we so desparately need. The one thing we ask, however, is to remain peaceful and positive. We don't want blatant McCain bashing as we are representing the movement and not just ourselves, so let's keep ourselves looking as professional as we can. You dig? Go the following link to view more information and to sign up:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs75gcWe hope to see more of you there! Tell your friends! Spread the word! We can make a difference. YES WE CAN.
I found this interesting, and had to share:
NEW YORK - MSNBC is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of political night coverage with David Gregory, and will use the two newsmen as commentators.
The change reflects tensions between the freewheeling, opinionated MSNBC and the impartial newsgatherers at NBC News. Throughout the primaries and summer, MSNBC argued that Olbermann and Matthews could serve as dispassionate anchors on political news nights and that viewers would accept them in that role, but things fell apart during the conventions.
Gregory, the veteran Washington hand, will anchor MSNBC's coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates and election night, network spokesman Jeremy Gaines said Sunday. The change was first reported by The New York Times.
The tipping point appears to have come during the GOP convention when Olbermann criticized MSNBC for showing a Sept. 11-themed video prepared by the Republicans.
MSNBC executives, who had publicly defended their anchors' roles while privately monitoring them throughout the political season, made the change over the weekend after discussions with Olbermann. Despite the controversy around him, Olbermann has been a hero with left-leaning viewers and keyed MSNBC's growth among coveted young viewers.
During her acceptance speech last week, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin talked about the "Washington elite" not accepting her qualifications for the job. Some delegates on the convention floor began chanting, "N-B-C, N-B-C."
Olbermann began to have difficulty keeping his opinions in check, or simply stopped trying.
He sarcastically dismissed GOP pundit Pat Buchanan on the air after Buchanan said the Republicans had been enlivened by the entrance of a conservative Republican.
"Those reading US Weekly with the picture of her and her youngest daughter with the word `scandal' written across it won't be so happy," Olbermann said.
He expressed little sympathy at another point when GOP anger at rumors over the Internet about Palin were being discussed.
"We'll see if people feel sorry for unfounded rumors on the Internet," he said. "If that's the case, Senator Obama's probably standing up and cheering and waiting for people to feel sorry for him."
Perhaps most embarrassing, Joe Scarborough was discussing positive developments in John McCain's campaign at one point when Olbermann was heard on an offstage microphone saying: "Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?"
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman and host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," got in another nasty on-air exchange with MSNBC reporter David Shuster, and Matthews snapped at Olbermann on-air when it appeared Olbermann was criticizing him for talking too much.
All the drama made MSNBC a punch line when top NBC anchor Brian Williams appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last week. "Is there no control?" host Jon Stewart asked him. "`Is it `Lord of the Flies?'"
A sheepish Williams said that every family has a dynamic of its own.
"But does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?" Stewart said.
Olbermann was in Denver during the Democratic national convention, but performed his co-hosting duties for the GOP convention in a New York studio. NBC President Steve Capus said the decision was not political, that Olbermann had been sent back to anchor coverage of Hurricane Gustav.
MSNBC's decision comes just before Olbermann's "Countdown" show is set to air, on Monday, his interview with Barack Obama. That will put Olbermann in direct competition with his nemesis, Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, who interviewed Obama last week and is airing a portion of it Monday in the same 8 p.m. EDT time slot.
"If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results." - Jack Dixon
The above quote could not be more true when it comes to the current situation. American decides who will be the next president. One man has been focusing on his plan for change and the other has been focusing on how to get votes. One man shows he is a leader and the other is showing he is no longer the 'maverick' he claims to be. Quite the dilemma here, huh? This is a time for change. We need to go with someone that is sharing his ideas for change, not someone that decides to only focus only on the past and picking an unlikely running mate to get publicity. Real change is a different idea, not continuing already failed policies of a failed presidency. Focus on change. Focus on the greater good. Focus only on the American dream.WE. NEED. CHANGE.
OBAMA-BIDEN 2008!
[not my post, but I had to share after reading this]
Democrats take aim at McCain’s temper
Daniel W. Reilly
DENVER — John McCain’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate are zeroing in on his oft-discussed temper, questioning whether the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is too volatile to be commander in chief.
In separate interviews with Politico on Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said they have seen McCain “explode.”
“He has a huge anger problem,” Boxer said. “And he never hid that. ... I have seen it happen on the Senate floor many, many times. … He has exploded at me a couple times.”
Boxer said McCain has always apologized after the dust-ups. Nonetheless, she insinuated that McCain’s temperament makes him unfit for the White House.
“It’s all well and good to apologize,” Boxer added, “but if you are in charge of that black box, I worry about that.”
Durbin noted McCain’s temper is “well documented,” saying that he had been on the receiving end of it for what he considered “minor things.”
“I was in a confrontation with him … and he was quick to explode,” said Durbin. “It simmered for a long time.”
Republicans have accused Democrats of inventing the temper line of attack to knock the Arizona senator. But Durbin called it “an important issue.”
Boxer pointed out that many of McCain’s GOP colleagues have also spoken out about his volatility, highlighting an incident told to the Biloxi Sun Herald by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).
Cochran told the newspaper that he watched McCain get involved in a physical confrontation with a Nicaraguan government official during a 1987 trip there. According to Cochran, McCain grabbed the official by the shirt collar and “snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair.”
McCain has said the account was “simply not true.”
-------------------------------------
Simply not true? Right.
Last night I had the opportunity to try to convince a very dear friend of our family, a very bright and dynamic woman, that she should vote for Barack Obama in November. Normally this would be an easy sell with this very liberal college professor but she seems to be a victim of some very bizarre distortions of just who our candidate is.
This friend was a very commited Hillary Clinton supporter and I think is stilling hurting badly from her defeat in the primaries. Hillary's campaign was her source for information about who Obama was and she will be the first to admit that Hillary vetted Obama viciously. As Hillary faded away, she was left with traditional media sources as her source of information with CNN the primary outlet. Our friend had really no exposure to the online resources that many of us used for a more balanced look at the candidates and issues.
Her primary distaste for Obama stems from the fact that she perceives him as an elitist that is all talk and no action, something that seems to be reinforced from the media portrayal on places like CNN. I'm certain that image began during the primaries since that was one of the messages from the Clinton campaign. She's convinced that his promises to remove us from Iraq are just empty rhetoric and that he's flip-flopped on key issues. She also was greatly upset that "he didn't visit the troops". I explained that she was a victim of the corporate-run media and that CNN was no longer the Ted Turner balanced news organization that it once was and that there was a huge resource of facts on the Internet that would counteract all of her concerns. I showed her a wide selection of online blogs including Daily Kos, Andrew Sullivan, Huffington Post, even MyDD although I know that there's some real Obama bashing still going on there. At least on a site like that she can see how unreasonable some of the hatred looks. I showed the area on this website that answers all the vicious rumors out there. I told her that if she's going to watch television news pundits that she must include people like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow for a bit of balance.
She's convinced that Obama is going to win in a landslide and dislike McCain immensely but she's still not convinced she can vote for Obama. I think she's much closer after our long talk last night. Oh, and she did make say that Obama's choice for VP is going to greatly influence her vote. I think she knows Hillary is very unlikely but she wants someone strong and experienced in that role. Sam Nunn or Wesley Clark would be very palatable to her.
I have little time for canvassing neighborhoods, making phone calls, or manning booths to help with the campaign but I participate heavily on internet blogs and work hard on my personal contacts with friends and relatives. I think it's a very important step. One person may not feel like much but if every one of us reaches one, it adds up quickly.
I am here because I have been overwhelmed by other emails. What I find is that these emails are sometimes a cover story for the person writing them, supposedly in the name of Barack but only because then the writer can do their personal dog and pony show complete w/website and fotos on flikr.
I like to remember that this opportunity is not about me. I am not the focus of the energy provided by this forum. I am trying to remember that this is about being the better person without the need for accolades from my fellow visionaries for my choice of candidate or my efforts in attracting the vote using my unique abilities.
Take the energy expended by all the bloggers(myself included) , emailers etc. and stop the madness of online self reflection and self congratulation and place this focus on the issues and the future steps needed. We dont have the luxury of time to waste in repetitive 'lookie loo-ism'.
Be secure in the knowledge that you are valued and heard and move on. Doing the right thing does not require advertising online or otherwise. Focus=meaningful movement=meaningful change. Cheerleading doesn't win the game; effort wins the game, strategy wins the game.
One love.
Obama's National Arts Policy Committee will be distributing the campaign's official arts policy platform to the Indiana and North Carolina arts community in order to cultivate a base of arts voters before the fast approaching primary. Obama is committed to the arts, and it's important we, as writers, artists, performers, and musicians, do our part to help win these importnat states!
Do you know any arts professionals in these states? Write me at obamaarts@gmail.com to get a pdf of the platform and a letter from our committee chairs, Margo Lions and George Stevens, Jr., to send out to your personal contacts. Or send me email and professional affiliations of people you know working in the Pennsylvania art community and we will send those documents out to your contacts. Any emails submitted will be kept private will only be used to send the official letter and policy document.
Obama's National Arts Policy Committee will be distributing the campaign's official arts policy platform to the Pennsylvania art community in order to cultivate a base of arts voters before the primary. Obama is committed to the arts, and it's important we, as writers, artists, performers, and musicians, do our part to help win Pennsylvania!
Do you know any arts professionals in Pennsylvania? Write me at obamaarts@gmail.com to get a pdf of the platform and a letter from our committee chairs, Margo Lions and George Stevens, Jr., to send out to your personal contacts. Or send me email and professional affiliations of people you know working in the Pennsylvania art community and we will send those documents out to your contacts. Any emails submitted will be kept private will only be used to send the official letter and policy document.
Do you have time to help us do some online research? I am looking for a few volunteers to help me do some online research for this big project. We need to find all the arts organizations in Pennsylvania and get emails for the staff of those organizations. We will be working on this right away, but since it's just online research, you can do this from home and at any time of day. If you have some time to help out, please reply back via email to obamaarts@gmail.com.Thanks so much,Shawnee Barton Obama for America Arts Policy Committee Member
