Biden v. Palin: Who Won the Debate?
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Watch Barack Obama Accept the Democratic Nomination in Downtown Chicago Please join 42nd Ward Democratic Committeeman John Corrigan and 32nd Ward Democratic Committeeman John Fritchey to Watch Barack Obama Accept the Democratic Nomination on August 28th
Stretch Run Sporting Club and Grill 544 N. LaSalle Street (LaSalle & Ohio) Chicago, Illinois Doors will open for the event at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $40 (includes appetizers and 3 drink tickets)
RSVP at http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4wk4j or to 42ndward@gmail.com,call 312-573-0042, or purchase your tickets in advance at www.actblue.com/page/chicagopac
Watch Barack Obama Accept the Democratic Nomination in Downtown Chicago Please join 42nd Ward Democratic Committeeman John Corrigan and 32nd Ward Democratic Committeeman John Fritchey to Watch Barack Obama Accept the Democratic NominationAugust 28th Stretch Run Sporting Club and Grill 544 N. LaSalle Street (LaSalle & Ohio) Chicago, Illinois Doors will open for the event at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $40 (includes appetizers and 3 drink tickets)
Please RSVP to http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4wk4j or 42ndward@gmail.com, call 312-573-0042 or purchase your tickets in advance at www.actblue.com/page/chicagopac.
We never rest here at the Illinois Headquarters, because there's always more work to be done. All this week, we are expanding our hours to help make calls into South Carolina before their important primary on Saturday.
Join us Wednesday night at 5:30 PM at our Chicago Volunteer Headquarters to listen to Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and to call voters in South Carolina. It's sure to be a good time and it couldn't be more important.
Details below the fold...
Breaking news from the conference call with Campaign Manager David Plouffe: A new online fundraising contest is being launched that will grant the members of the My.BarackObama.com groups that raise the most money through the end of the week the opportunity to participate in a personal conference call with Senator Barack Obama and Campaign Manager David Plouffe. Be on the lookout for more information from the My.BarackObama.com team.
State of the Campaign
Barack Obama's Schedule: On Monday, Barack Obama received the endorsement of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. Tuesday, he’s speaking at Change to Win in Chicago. Wednesday, he can be seen live on the NBC/NECN/New Hampshire Public Radio/New Hampshire Democratic Party debate, which will be broadcast live on MSNBC at 9pm EST. Following the debate he’ll head to New York, where he’ll participate in a live interview on ABC’s The View at 11am EST on Thursday before leading a major rally in Washington Square Park. On Friday, he speaks at Howard University’s Convocation and participates in the CBC Issues Forum in Washington, DC.
Reposted from the Planned Parenthood Myspace Page:
Our Clinic in Aurora, Illinois, Needs Your HelpThe Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, Illinois, has become ground zero in the fight for women's access to reproductive health care. Aurora is a fast-growing city outside Chicago where Planned Parenthood just built a large clinic. And 10 days ago, the usual suspects in the anti-choice fringe showed up in droves — and by droves, I mean more people are protesting this clinic than we've seen for a long time. Illinois needs Planned Parenthood's services (URL: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/medical-sexual-health/health-care-to-aurora-16719.htm) — Illinois ranks 46th in the availability of contraceptive services and supplies. But despite the obvious need for high-quality health care and overwhelming support from the community, the center has been besieged by vocal anti-choice hardliners. The Aurora area is home to some of the most radical anti-abortion extremists including Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League. Scheidler made his name in 1980’s when he called for the “year of pain and fear” for reproductive health care providers and patients. And on August 25, hundreds of anti-choice extremists picketed near the site of the clinic as part of a “40-day prayer vigil” to protest the opening. To be honest, it's going to take all of our efforts to open this clinic. We need to open this clinic with more warmth, more strength, and more solidarity with supporters than ever before. What's happening in Aurora isn't just some isolated incident. What's happening in Aurora today is what's happening in America. It's not a war on a clinic — it's a war on women's access to needed health care — in Aurora, and across our country.We won’t back down — too much is at stake for women and their families. But we need your help. You can let these protesters know that you stand with Planned Parenthood by signing up to tie a ribbon in your name outside the clinic (URL: http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/aurora1/b0809htr07). And if you want to do more, you can donate (URL: https://secure.ga0.org/02/aurora1/b0809htr07) to help ensure that Planned Parenthood’s doors stay open. If you live in Illinois, you can do even more to help us on the ground. Sign up to volunteer locally (URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mVbQSX7JNAsBqRJbMj_2fxYw_3d_3d) and pick up a sign to post in your yard. The signs say "This family supports Planned Parenthood." Here's where you can pick up your sign:Aurora Planned Parenthood Health Center 3051 E. New York Ave., Aurora, IL (at the corner of New York Ave. and Oakhurst St.) Monday thru Thurs.: 12 pm to 2 pm & 5 pm to 7 pm Friday & Saturday: 12 pm to 2 pmPlease repost!!!
Thanks to Roscoe for finding this!
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/540781,CST-NWS-camp04.article
"The next tip is to be absolutely ruthless," Jocelyn Woodards tells the campers. "We want you to be determined, ambitious, take a risk."
No toasted marshmallows here. This is the second day of Camp Obama, a two-day (sometimes four-day) intensive training course in becoming an activist to help get Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) elected president.
"It's not enough for you to be a supporter of Barack. You have to go out and build an organization that will deliver votes for Barack Obama," Woodards tells the 40 campers -- most in their 20s -- from around the country gathered at the campaign's national headquarters in the West Loop.
Obama is not like other candidates, and part of this training is learning to mimic the methods he used before he was an elected official -- back when he was a community organizer in Chicago following the textbook of legendary agitator Saul Alinsky.
Rivals of Obama know that while he may at times appear to channel Martin Luther King Jr., his methods sometimes give evidence of his allegiance to Alinsky, who shunned starry-eyed idealists and recommended purging do-gooders from organizations. Alinsky wanted results. And his methods often forced the hands of elected officials.
It's not enough to want to help others, Woodards says. These campers need to focus on people's self-interests. What do they want? How can Obama help them?
"We want you to stop thinking about Barack Obama and be Barack Obama," she says.
"What do you want?" Woodards asks Katie Murphy, 30, of Bartlett. Since her son was born with a heart defect 10 months ago, Murphy has had to stay home to give him constant care and fight with the insurance company about what expenses are and are not covered. Murphy wants a better national health-care plan.
"I want my brother to come back from Baghdad," says Kris Kolky, 26, of Michigan, who just finished law school.
There are campers from Maine and California, African immigrants and a woman from Kentucky who was considering leaving the country as her job went non-union and her pay dropped from $12 to $10 an hour. They have paid their way to Chicago because they think Obama can be an agent of change.
Woodards, an Obama campaign staffer who used to work for the Democratic National Committee, tells the campers to break up into groups of two and spend 20 minutes at a time just listening to each other.
"Listening, listening, listening. Listening is the No. 1 tool," she says. They hold a mock Iowa caucus in which campers learn to try to lure other candidates' supporters to Obama during re-alignment periods.
Whether they are going on to Iowa or other early primary states or back to their home states or neighborhoods, they need to start pinpointing community leaders and clergy, and start building an actual organization, Woodards tells them.
Just about all the candidates' campaigns do some version of this volunteer training but others don't have the candidates' own backgrounds to draw on in mapping out the training regimen. Alinsky had been dead for a decade when Obama came to organize in Chicago in the '80s, but his disciples were here ready to train him as Woodards is ready to train the volunteers.
"The first thing I did when I came back to Arizona was to join a volunteer group called Arizonans for Obama," said Alice Cho, a graduate of a camp held here two weeks ago. She has been going to every informal Democratic gathering she can in her up-to-now very Republican state, passing out Obama buttons and trying to build relationships and a structure that will last beyond this election.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ben LaBolt (Obama)
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger for Surgeon General:
“America’s top doctor should be a doctor for all Americans, and so I have serious reservations about nominating someone who would inject his own anti-gay ideology into critical decisions about the health and well-being of our nation. As with other nominees, I will listen to the testimony of Dr. James Holsinger, but this Administration must know that the United States Surgeon General’s office is no place for bigotry or ideology that would trump sound science and good judgment.”
The Obama Campaign has released a revised LGBT Fact Sheet. The contents are below:
Paid for by Obama for AmericaBARACK OBAMA’S SUPPORT FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY“While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."[Obama Statement, 6/1/07]
BARACK OBAMA ON LGBT ISSUES
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. Barack Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to reach violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
Fight Workplace Discrimination: Barack Obama believes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees’ domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in theworkplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. Obama also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Promote LGBT Rights: Barack Obama supported legislation in the Illinois State Senate to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing and public accommodations.Support Full Civil Unions: Barack Obama supports civil unions that give same-sex couples full rights, including the right to assist their loved ones in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits currently extended to married couples, and the same property rights as anyone else.
Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage: Barack Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples. “We are better than this. And we certainly owe the American people more than this. I know that this amendment will fail, and when it does, I hope we can start discussing issues and offering proposals that will actually improve the lives of mostAmericans.” (Barack Obama on the Senate floor regarding the Federal Marriage Amendment, June 5, 2006)
Repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell: Barack Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in consultation with military commanders. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollarsreplacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. Obama will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.
Expand Adoption Rights: Barack Obama believes that homosexuals should have the same adoption rights as heterosexuals.
Fight AIDS Worldwide: There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS. Every day, AIDS kills 8,000 and HIV infects 6,000 more people. The disease is set to become the third-leading cause of death worldwide in the coming years. Barack Obama has been a global leader in the fight against AIDS. He traveled to Kenya and took a public HIV test to encourage testing and reduce the stigma of the disease.
Promote AIDS Prevention: Barack Obama believes that we cannot ignore that abstinence and fidelity may too often be the ideal and not the reality. Obama went to a large evangelical conference in 2006 to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle. At this conservative Christian event, Obama pushed for a balanced approach to fighting the disease that includes condom distribution. In late 2006, Barack Obama worked toreauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act, which is one of the largest sources of federal funds for primary health care and support services for patients with HIV/AIDS. The bill was named after Ryan White, an Indiana teenager whose courageous struggle with HIV/AIDS helped educate the nation.
Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. Barack Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of productscurrently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.
Paid for by Obama for America
Hi there fellow Chicago Residents! My name is Evan, and I'm an intern with the Field Department at Obama for America. We are beginning a Kids for Obama project in which kids can participate and share their feelings about Senator Obama! I'm hoping you will join me at our kickoff event. Please RSVP by Clicking Here!
