Is it just me, or are all of you members of my Obama family going through this crazy loop-de-loop, roller coaster of fear and excitement every day?
I spend half my day feeling exuberant and hopeful and excited and then the other half feeling terrified and sure the Republicans are going to pull off some big election voodoo like they did in 2000 and 2004.
I can tell you that in 2004, the day after the elction, I awoke to the image on television of John Kerry standing on the steps of Faneul Hall, giving his concession speech, and I felt like the world as I knew it, had disappeared.
For months (nay, years) after that election I felt that I was a foreigner, living in a foreign land, with a culture and society that had nothing to do with me--a culture I did not and could not understand--a culture whose values and ideals were so far removed from mine that we could neve see eye-to-eye.
Because, I thought, if there are that many people in this nation who cannot see what a terrible "leader" GWB is, then I do not share the very basic and necessary ideology of what it is to be an "american". I couldn't try to see the "gray area" of that election, for there was none.
This year, this election, the choice is even more clear. And the risk is even more grave.
I can't imagine a worse scenario if these evil clowns could somehow pull this off again.
Please, somebody, talk me down. I feel like I must be underestimating the American people's tolerance for BS and lies and division and distortion, but, after 2004....I just can't seem to warm up to that idea.
I've always found it curious how many Americans are so disinterested in, or indifferent to, our political process. We have this somewhat unique opportunity to be as involved as we want to be and to guide our nation's path...for many, that "opportunity" is boring, dubious, or overwhelming; for others, it is a pleasure and a right that we hold sacred; a responsibility we see as fundamental.
Writing letters, sending emails, or making phone calls to members of congress is a great example of the kind of power that we, indiviual Americans, have. In my own life, I have seen policy changes based on nothing more than protests, civil disobedience, and simple activism in the form of a letter-writing campaign. It is awe-inspiring when you witness hundreds or even thousands of people joing together with a common voice, sharing their concerns in a public way, demanding justice, peace, or action from our nation's leaders. It is especially incredible to realize that within these groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals are many differing opinions and lifestyles; ideologies and faiths; races and ages and genders; and yet, for that one moment-- on that one subject, they can find a common ground on which to meet to make change.
It is even more incredible when you recognize that that group of 300 or 3000 is such a small percentage of our nation's vast population, and yet they can still effect change; they can still make thir voices heard.
That's why I find it so curious when so many people feel that "it doesn't matter" whether they vote, or that their vote "doesn't mean anything". This is, in part, because of the past eight year's insular and devious administration, but it's also because the American people long ago gave up their responsibility to make this nation "by the people" and instead, handed that responsibility, and it's power, over to Washington.
I was thinking about Obama's morning nes blog and this agreement he's made to close the remianing "Enron" loopholes and how few Americans even know what that truly means; myself included.
So many people have complained that Obama doesn't speak specifically enough on the issues, but when he does, there are vast numbers of people saying (to themselves), "I don't really understand this, so I'll just gloss over it and look for some juicier news". We cry out, "We don't want to hear speeches, we want to know exactly what your plans are!" and then our lo attnetion spans begin to make our eyes glaze over while we wait for the next video or song to ease our sufferng.
On political bloggin sites, if you look at the number of comments on "real news" stories versus those on "gssip"-type stories, the difference is both huge and disturbing. In the time it takes those gossip stories to garner hundreds of comments and reads, the real news gets 10 or 0 and can barely keep the AMerican interest.
We need to be more involved not just in our politics but in the common threads that bond us all together, here in America and around the world.
It isn't enough to know every time McCain says something stupid or without flair; e must also care about what happens in our own Midwest and around the globe and have the same passion for all people, everywhere because we all share the same humanity, the same dreams, the same needs.
Caring and being involved isn't somethng to be proud of; it is our responsibility as members of the "greatest nation". We can't keep calling ourselves something like that, and using the American brand as a defining tool when over half of our population can't be bothered to spend 1/2 an hour, once every years, voting; and over 80% of our population can't do it once every two years.
As AMericans, we should be willing to spend AT LEAST as much time being involved in our politics as we are in shopping for clothes, watching sitcoms, or surfing the web.
If not, the change we seek will only be a slogan. Obama can't do this by himself, and helping him win the elction in November will be only the beginning of our job, as Americans.
This FISA bill vote sure has a lot of people crying, "I'm outta here!"
I'm confused and disappointed at the fairweather support for our candidate. I understand the importance of holding these telecomms accountable fo thier illegal activities. If we lived in a country where our leaders ere held accountable, we wouldn't need Obama s much as we do today.
But, alas, we are in a conundrum, aren't we? We need Obama to be elected in November becasue of the nasty, vile, divisive and distractive campaiangs and agendas of the Republican, and yet, becasue of those same things, we need him to support a compromise bill on FISA. If h didn't, the Republican smear and spin machine would have all the fodder necessary to label hm "weak on terrorists" and we have learned, the hard way, that they don't need anymore than that to win electons.
It's precisely this kind of scilla and charibdis we an expect more of in the future with a country so deeply divided. we better get used to the idea of compromise; not just because there will be a lot more of it, but also because we live in a country with a wide variety of belief systems and none of ours is more importan than anyone else's. We need to brig something to the table to negotiat with, and sometimes that means compromising some of our values for the greater god.
I'm no constitutional law scholar and I don't pretend to have all the answers; but I do know that we need to have passage of a FISA bill so that the illegal and unwarranted wiretapping of innocent Americans will end. If this means compromising on our abilit to pursue civil litigation against these corporations, I am willing to make that tade-off; especially if if means the differece between another BS election or Obama getting into the white house.
We must choose our battles and stop pretending that Obama is the answer to all of our society's ills. He is not. He will do his best fo us, all of us, and we must trust in that and then become active participants in this democracy. We are responsible for holding our lected officials accountable...
There will be some great guest speakers and it should get up to around 70 degrees on Saturday, so I'm heading to Kirkland for the Rally at Marina Village Park.
I hope to see lot's of fellow Obama Supporters there, and encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the great weather as Spring begins!
The Rally starts at 9 am and lasts till 1 pm, go to the "find Events" section of your MY BARACK OBAMA profile page to find the links to get more details on who the speakers are, and get directions to Marina Village Park in Kirkland.
See you there!
For all you guitar players, here's an easy - Obamafied version of a Dylan Classic.
Bob Dylan is a genius, so please pardon my borrowing from his art. I'm doing it out of love for Obama and the possibilities for our nation.
If anybody wants to add some lyrics I'd love some other Dylan fans input on more verses, and how to make it better.
Obama's Time's They Are A Changing.
G Em C G
Come gather round people where ever you are
Am C D
And admit that Republicans have gone way too far
And accept it we'll soon be disgraced by this war
Am D
If a new leader does not redeem us
D7 Gmaj7 D
Better vote for Barack or it's more of the same
G C D G
For the times they are a changing!
The Bush’s and Clinton’s have both had there turns
But the wars just continue and hatred still burns
Does it have to continue till each voter learns
Their lies are all before you
Better vote for Barack or it’s more of the same
Conservatives and Liberals throughout this land
Agree war politicians are way out of hand
No American’s born just to die in the sand
It’s too high a price for our oil!
Geraldine Ferraro attributes Senator Obama's phenomenal popularity to "luck."
How lucky do you have to be to marry the future President of the United States?
I'd say Hillary is the one who is the one who got lucky - because she would be nowhere near the presidency if she had not been lucky enough to be married to one.
Let's see Hillary come close to achieving anything as individually prestigious as being elected President of the Harvard Law Review, like Senator Obama was.
Let's see Hillary give up her millions of dollars and volunteer to re-build a neighborhood for a while.
Let's see Hillary run a campaign that is not based completely on the past achievements of her husbands administration that accomplished a lot, but also ushered in an era of Right Wing Republican Reactionism thanks to her husbands disgraceful behavior.
I feel our first woman President should earn the job like Senator Obama will, not riding a spouses coat-tails into the White-house using a 30-year old political machine like it is her own personal army.
Hillary is the one who is lucky, Geraldine, not Barack.
Sat Feb 16, 4:10 PM ET JOHNSON, Ark. - A college student was arrested in the theft of a briefcase containing more than $140,000 from the home of the chairman of meat processing giant Tyson Foods Inc., police said. Ryan Silvey, 19, was arrested in Olathe, Kan., by the FBI Fugitive Task Force, the Johnson Police Department said. He was taken back to Arkansas to answer a theft charge and was being held in lieu of $50,000 bond Saturday at the Washington County jail. The briefcase was stolen during a party thrown by John Tyson's daughter at the family's home in Johnson around Dec. 27 without his knowledge or consent, police said. Silvey and another friend were uninvited guests who acted suspicious while looking around the house, police said. Tyson reported the theft Jan. 2, saying he had collected the money over time and had it hidden in the house.
WHO KEEPS ONE-HUNDRED-FORTY-THOUSAND DOLLARS AROUND THE HOUSE? DRUG DEALERS, SURE, BUT ALSO SUPER-RICH CHANGE COLLECTORS OR MAYBE CLOSETED CLINTON SUPPORTERS?
IN MY EXHAUSTIVE 90-second online investigation I could not find any evidence that John Tyson has ever given money to Hillary or Bill Clinton - what I did find makes me wonder why not? He is from Arkansas - they are from Arkansas - and according to my internet sources he has given $58,000 to Republicans, $144,290, to Democrats another $194,800 to chicken loving special-interests for a total of: $397,090 in political contributions over the past few years. On top of that, his company - Tyson Foods - supplies the majority of Chicken, Pork and Beef for the largest company in the world, WAL-MART, which Hillary Clinton also happened to help manage.
To be fair to John Tyson, we all keep a jar with change in it on a dresser or a table. When we get home we throw our spare change in the jar. John just happens to use a briefcase, and he has $140,000 in there. He is chairman of one of the 100 largest corporations in the US, a corporation with the closest of ties to Wal-Mart, which is the largest corporation in the world.
Sure, John Tyson's father Don Tyson has this notation in his WIKIPEDIA Biography: "A simple search of the public records archive in Little Rock, Arkansas turns up dozens of references to cocaine distribution, drug trafficking, and allegations of murder for hire attempts. It is alleged that Don Tyson is involved in the MENA drug ring in Arkansas and is protected by local Arkansas officials."
But that doesn't mean he is in any way connected to the Clintons or illegal drugs. Sure the Clintons were local Arkansas officials back in the day, but John Tyson is not implicated in the allegations against his father. John is the victim in this story.
I sure hope he got all $140,000 of his spare change back, for parking meters and such. Parking a Lear-jet is probably very costly, unless your parking it at WAL-MART.
Why all the money in the suitcase, John??? And why no direct contributions listed to HILLARY? HMMM? She was on Wal-Marts board of directors, right? Why not help out a buddy? Isn't she Pro-Chicken enough?
I got to my caucus location - Monroe High School in Monroe WA - about 45 minutes prior to the one o-clock start time, and found Hillary signs on every table, but very few Obama signs.
A woman approached me, probably because I was carrying my own Obama sign, and told me that she had seen a large amount of Obama signs delivered, and she claimed someone had taken all the Obama signs and assumably disposed of them somewhere!
One of the party officials or caucus organizers even got on the PA system prior to the start of the caucus to tell us that there was a rumor going around that this had happened, and there was no truth to it.
In fact, this woman told me she saw it happen, but then she left my area of the caucus, and it looked to me like she left before it even began, and I never saw her again.
She was a petite woman, pretty, with shoulder length reddish brunette hair, as I recall.
This episode is a mystery to me, and while I was approached by some rednecks who tried to provoke me by making sarcastic comments about Obama's viability, this mystery woman with her charge of campaign dirty tricks has me curious.
Did anybody else at the Monroe Caucus see any large amount of Obama materials at the Monroe caucus dissappear and were there other episodes like this, possibly with the same woman in other caucuses?
In New Hampshire, primary participants said the economy was their #1 issue. I agree. In relation to that, here’s my thought on keeping troops in Iraq. Who really knows if keeping our troops there will or will not bring about the change we hope for in that country. No one. I do know that keeping troops there diverts millions of dollars from our ability to change and fix things here at home: unmanageable healthcare costs, embarrassing education results, failing infrastructure, gasoline crisis, negative environmental impact, immigration control, nearly insurmountable national debt, national security, etc. etc. etc. These things cannot wait for the Iraqi outcome. These things cannot wait at all.
The Washington State Caucus is Saturday February 9th.
The weeks leading up to the Caucus are a crucial time for Obama supporters in Washington to stir up excitement and raise awareness levels for potential Caucus goers.
Lets help Senator Obama set records for attendance and support in Washington just like he did in Iowa and is doing in New Hampshire.
For three Saturdays leading up to the Caucus Sno-Sky Valley for Barack Obama is sponsoring Rallys at one of the busiest intersections in Snohomish County, (HWY 2 and Kelsey) in Monroe WA.
Starting Saturday January 19th and following up on January 26th and February 2nd we are inviting all Obama supporters to come out with us for sign waving, smiles and Rally for Obama.
The Rally site provides a constant flow of slow moving cars in four directions which offers a unique opportunity to Rally on all four corners where we can wave signs and smile to thousands of people an hour. If you have never attended one of these types of events you will be amazed at the hundreds of people smiling and waving back from inside their cars, honking horns and giving "thumbs up" in support of Obama.
Come and see for yourself; bring your kids and bring your friends. Be a part of Obama's history making campaign right here in Snohomish County!
First Rally is Noon - 5 p.m. Saturday 19th January - you can register on this website, or just show up at the event. Signs and balloons will be available.
The Rally site, Fred Meyers/Blockbuster/Rite Aide/Dennys intersection in Monroe WA sees thousands of cars pass every hour on Saturday afternoons - many heading to Stevens Pass for skiing or heading home after an early ski day. This intersection provides a constant flow of traffic moving slow enough so that everyone sees whats going on, but moving fast enough that tens of thousands of people pass by in a few hours.
Lets give a friendly reminder to these thousands of folks passing by that the caucus is coming soon and Barack Obama is the man they should support.
Please join us. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the time is now.
Food and restroom facilities are available. Organizational meeting and coffe to follow at Dennys - adjacent to the Rally sight at 5 p.m.
President Obama in 2008 - Won't That Be Great?
Great article on a republican webpage supporting Obamaqoute:"But if you sense, as I do, that greater danger lies ahead, and that our divisions and recent history have combined to make the American polity and constitutional order increasingly vulnerable, then the calculus of risk changes. Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution. Close-up in this election campaign, Obama is unlikely. From a distance, he is necessary. At a time when America’s estrangement from the world risks tipping into dangerous imbalance, when a country at war with lethal enemies is also increasingly at war with itself, when humankind’s spiritual yearnings veer between an excess of certainty and an inability to believe anything at all, and when sectarian and racial divides seem as intractable as ever, a man who is a bridge between these worlds may be indispensable.We may in fact have finally found that bridge to the 21st century that Bill Clinton told us about. Its name is Obama."
Full Article: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama
After working on a strategy with my friend Seth from Portland we have determined my next steps of action:
My goal is to have 3 Volunteers in Snoqualmie by December 20th. Another initiative I am going to try to work on is identifying an issue that residents of Snoqualmie have that aligns well with a platform issue of Obama's. Then to prepare a communication to be given at a Snoqualmie City Council meeting which will ask for a resolution supporting Obama on that particular issue. We shall see how this goes. I am also going to try to make the caucus training this Sunday in Seattle.
DENVER MARIJUANA INITIATIVE
Final results of Citizen Proposition 100 - a law directing law enforcement officers in Denver to make marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority passed with 54% of voters in favor of the measure.
The same policy has been in effect in Seattle for over a year, without any apparent ill effects.
Elected officials and police in Denver, however. say the initiative would have little effect since state and federal law supersede local law decriminalizing the drug.
Denver passed an initiative in 2005 making possession of small amounts of marijuana legal. It's had little effect as police and prosecutors said they were enforcing state law.
Sounds like to me our "Democratic" nation has become more of a "Police State."
I hope President Obama will work to address the corrupt subsidy of the Alcohol Corporations which is the real purpose of the War On Drugs and which only serves to keep Big Alcohol company profits up and Street Gang violence rampant.
For more on the story you can Google "Denver Marijuana Proposition 100" or just click on this...
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/denver-voters-set-lowest-priority-for-cops-pot/index.html?ex=1352091600&en=33d81f70112b1e98&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Barack Obama will inherit a lot of problems, we all know the big ones, National Security, Health Care, Education, Poverty, but what about an issue that was a huge presidential campaign issue back in the good old days of Nixon and Reagan. What ever happened to the War On Drugs?
The Associated Press reports that with the help of the Oregon National Guard and their helicopters - marijuana plant seizures have more than doubled in Oregon this year, jumping from 120,000 plants confiscated last year to 245,000 plants this year.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20071104/NEWS03/711040043
I don't endorse marijuana use, but I always thought the National Guard was there to protect US citizens from other countries and help out in emergencies.
These seizures will not decrease the demand for pot in Oregon, and citizens will continue to buy weed, but it will be weed grown and smuggled from outside of Oregon.
The effects of Pot Prohibition now are identical to those of Alcohol Prohibition in the past. It is an unworkable policy that only creates more criminals and funnels money to organized crime, in our own cities as well as in those of our neighboring countries.
I hope Barack Obama who is quoted as saying "I inhaled, that was the point" will guide our country back in the direction of freedom and away from the counterproductive and futile policy of prohibition.
I like Ron Paul and Kucinech both, but Paul is a Republican. Considering how the Democrats have treated Obama, maybe a Republican running mate would be a gesture of Unity.
Your thoughts?
I'm working on this song - the lead solo is amazingly simple, yet difficult, but has anybody heard any version of BACK IN THE USSR with the lyrics changed to Barack In the U S of A?
What a great Rock song for a Rally!
