today is the first official day of a new world... Barack & Michelle are our guides, our cheerleaders, our mentors... but the work is truly up to all of us... let us take this opportunity and keep the momentum going...
and more than anything, to continue to support and encourage each other to keep reaching for that goal in the face of the challenges we all face.
It's been interesting to see the post election mood here on the Monterey Peninsula... mostly smiling faces, T-shirts, and signs still up... and a generally relaxed feeling that things are finally going to start getting better.
It would have been better if Prop 8 had gone down in flames... but it's not over yet. Discrimination is still discrimination, and being "traditional" doesn't make it OK. Every adult in this society has the right to have a committed relationship with the adult of their mutual choosing... and to have that relationship respected by the rest of us whether we agree with them or not.
We all send our thanks to Madelyn for the fruits of her labor... Sydney Ann and Barack.
It's sad that she is not here to see him win this election, but hopefully she has gone on to work for him in another place... ensuring that the road is clear and the path leads to a better future for us all.
by this time Wednesday we will be celebrating or lamenting... lets keep our thoughts focused on the former... the power of focused collective thought has been proven to be more than just "wishful thinking."
Go Barack!
Against my naturally reserved tendancies, I've been calling Ohio for Obama for two weeks now, and I've been happy to learn that Ohioans are kind and ready to talk. I think it's a combination of the fact that people like me calling aren't robots, we're vounteers and that the message is frankly more kind and more inclusive than the opposition.
First the Kennedy's, now Powell. However, after a clear, concise, heartfelt expression of his disappointment with his own party's despicable behavior, and how much he's been impressed by Barack... in many circles, Powell's endorsement is being written off as "just because he's Black." How outrageous!
Only the people who are convinced that all women would support Palin, no matter how unlikely her credentials, could believe that Powell made this decision based even partially on race.
Thank you Secretary/General Powell, for having the courage to stand up for what you believe is right. Lets all work hard to give him the opportunity to serve in Barack's Presidential Cabinet next year.
Joe Vogler (I don't know if Joe was a plumber) was murdered during a sale of illegal explosives. Did Joe wear a Stars and Stripes lapel pin? No way, Joe said, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Who was Joe? Joe was the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party. It's stated goal is " the ultimate independence of Alaska," from the United States. They are modern day secessionists.Surely a woman like Palin, who has lambasted Obama for marginal associations with a man who shared a community board, has denounced her secessionist husband for his membership in the AIP. Oops, She was the keynote speaker for their 2006 convention. Hard to say she didn't know what they were about, she attended their 2000 convention with her Dude. She recorded the greeting for this year's 2008 convention. Say it ain't so Sarah! What, no renounciation of the Dude who wants to steal those oil reserves from US Citizens? No renounciation of the Dude or his organization that wants to rip the largest state from the Union? I presume that since Palin has read "All of them" newspapers, that she should have some understanding of what happened during the last Civil War. No renuciation, but it's okay for her to engender hatred against a man attempting to do something constructive for his community that involved sitting on a board with someone who did something horrid when Obama was only eight. Oh, Sarah, beware of the log in your own eye before you condemn the splinter in Obama's.
MONTEREY -- An Arizona businessman, with help from Sen. John McCain's office, paid the federal government a mere fraction of the market value when he bought a Fort Ord land parcel in 1999, an Army appraisal obtained by The Monterey Herald shows.
Donald R. Diamond, an 80-year-old real estate developer, lobbyist and top fundraiser for McCain's presidential campaign, bought the land for $250,000, though it was valued at $7.2 million, according to Pentagon appraisals made three years before the sale.
He held on to the parcel for a little more than two years before selling it and the buildings on it for an estimated profit of more than $18 million.
We should send this article by Drew Westrin to as many people as possible, ASAP!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/the-day-the-momentum-chan_b_128227.html
I'm going to raise $50,000 for the Obama campaign. Many feel that I am just joking around or something, but I'm not.
I know it won't be easy. Just like this campaign overall, I will have to work my tail off and I will need your help.
Almost 600 people have made more than 800 donations so far. At an average donation of 30 bucks, it is really starting to add up. Some people donate 25 dollars every paycheck. Some give 100 bucks a month. I've had people donate $500 and $1000 at a time! I've had a whole bundle of 5 dollar donations. Every dollar makes adifference.
There's this thing called the Streak happening - you might have heard. Awhile back, I committed myself to securing at least one donation every day until Obama won the election. Today was the 119th day in a row.
I found this website called Vistaprint and managed to get a box of free business cards made up. They are the Joe Ruwe Obama Fundraising Team with a link to the website. I carry them everywhere I go and pass them out to everyone who will take 'em.
You guys, there are only 47 days left to go until the most profound election of our lifetimes.
We will either win or lose.
We will either save our country, or we will hand it back over to the GOP and the corporate world for another 4 years of disaster and disgrace.
It's up to us.
Sadly, it will take all the money we can possibly muster.
Please consider contributing to this great campaign. Consider it an investment in your future, your children's future, and the future of our country.
3 simple word: YES WE CAN.
Here's my fundraiser: fundraising page
Obama/Biden '08
