For all of the Obama supporters who met after the election and decided to help homeless veterans, we had a great day on Friday as the Standown event hosted by Barb Sesate kicked off. We have Obama volunteers working today and tomorrow, too.
I participated for the first time and would highly recommend this as a volunteer experience. The event organizers provided excellent training for first-time volunteers. The event logistics were great in that Veterans Memorial Coliseum was set up to welcome and process hundreds of veterans.
If you are not yet involved with our group's community service projects, please join us. If you have another project in mind that our group could do, please post of this blog or create the event and invite our group to participate.
As I'm sure everyone knows, Barack has asked everyone to participate in a community service event between now and inauguration day (January 20th). If you are looking for opportunities to volunteer. Please check under events along with your zip code. I currently have three events set up in Arizona and could use help if you're in this area.
Please join me on the evening of the Presidential Inauguration, January 20th, to PARTY!!!!! It's time to celebrate, to reward ourselves for all the hard work, to reflect, to chat, to dance to have a wonderful time.The festivites begin at 6:30 at Dos Gringos in Chandler. The DJ will begin spinning records at 8:00. I hope you can make it a point to come. Details are available by clicking the link below. Please rsvp to reserve your spot and to keep an accurate count of all attending. I plan on contacting some radio stations and going "big" on advertiising this to make it a HUGE event.Sign up early!Hope to see you there!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gptk8y
This is it - the day we have all been waiting for. The proverbial Fat lady is singing. Go out and vote now or miss the boat all together.
This has been a long race and I suspect emotionally challenging for Obama with his grandmothers illness and final transition.
Now is the day to see if it was all worth it. My prediction is that Obama will win by a landslide. He has brought us hope at a time when everything seems upside down and nothing makes sense. When people are profoundly impacted on many fronts by issues they have no control over.
So do not be complacent, send a solid message to Washington and the world (yes, they are watching). Go out and cast your vote today.
Peace and Prosperity to all.
I got a phone call very early this morning from my nephew in Delaware. He called to tell me that his wife was in the delivery room about to give birth to their daughter. He put his wife on the phone so she could tell me that she had already voted for Barack because she did not want the arrival of their second child to keep her from being able to vote. She was as excited about the possibility of an Obama presidency as she was about the pending arrival of her second child.
This is a exciting time for all of us as we push to deliver an Obama victory. We are hours away from giving America a new direction that will change the world. The Get Out the Vote efforts are very important so I am glad that we will be working together for victory on election day.
This week marked a turning point in the McCain Camp's tactics--swift boat, baby swift boat. I decided that I need to know more about our Arizona Senator so that I could easily compare the both candidates. In conversations with my Republican neighbors, I wanted to make sure that I stuck to the facts. Here is one article that I found enlightening.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain/page/2
It has taken me a while to consider my take on the debate. Rather than just jump in with a gut reaction, I felt it prudent to let things settle first before commenting.
I want to be objective and am having difficulty with this. There were times during the debate when John McCain spoke that I had to leave the room. As an Arizonan I have supported him in the past but am now profoundly disappointed. He started his camapign with photo ops of himself and Bush and trying to please the Republican party by looking like he was a real conservative in all ways, which he is not.
Now he is selling himself as a change agent, since it is working for Obama, and in his ads he is showing Obama agreeing with him. Does he think we are dumb? Obama says we need change and we do not need the same old Bush that we would get with McBush and so McCain transforms himself into McObama and claims that Obama has agreed with him when it is McCain that changed his stance.
From my perspective the biggest fundimental differences between the two candidates are as follows:
1 -McCain is pro war for solving problems, and wants to spend as much money as possible on defense1 - Obama wants to end wars and solve problems with deplomancy. To spend some money on defense but also support major issues facing Americans today (i.e. education, healthcare, Medicare, etc.)
2 - McCain is a maverick, not afraid to move quickly 2 - Obama is a thinker, prefering to look before he leaps
Since I believe in self defense but prefer diplomancy first I do not agree with McCain to keep on fighting any wars in the Middle East. They have been fighting with each other since before recorded history and it will never end. If we get rid of our dependence on their oil we will no longer pay them to attack us. This should be our strategy and not more war.
Our infrastructure is falling apart. health care needs to be thrown out and a new model created from scratch. Our children are so poorly educated that companies are foced to export jobs as there are not enough qualified young people to fill the jobs, a point that never seems to get mentioned.
We need to spend a billion dollars at home fixing our country and not throwing it away in the Middle East on wars that in the end will not help us.
I do not know who won the debate. I do know who has integrity, vision, and constant energy. I do know who wants change that will help strugling Americans, who will improve education, healthcare, etc. That is the kind of person I want for my president. Not a maverick that might put his finger on an atomic bomb just because someone "P....." him off.
Want to see Michael Moore's new movie "Slacker Uprising"? Go to
http://slackeruprising.com/download/location.php?utm_medium=download&utm_source=30301264
It is basically about his tour across the US prior to the last election. It talks a lot about the lies the Republicans used in the last election to destroy Kerry's credibility. I was disappointed that it did not address the Republican lies that abound in this election of the horrible issues that face us now as a result of having Bush/Republicans in control. It is too dated but it does show the lengths some people will go to suppress the voices of others that they disagree with. Apparently some people have not heard of the 1st amendment.
I currently live in Arizona, a decidedly conservative, Republican state. As a result there are many opportunities to meet people who want to vote for "the other side". Since I am a student in an Acupuncture clinic there are many people coming in all day long. I simply ask "who will you vote for and why" then just listen. My intention is not to create a debate but to understand why people are voting for McCaine/Palin. If the reasons have anything to do with "right to life", party line, or religious doctrine I write it off as these are people like my parents so understanding why is not someplace I want to go with them as it is a black hole.
However, sometimes I find interesting responses and have listed a few below:
- One man said he preferred Obama/Palin because Palin is so feisty (anything else about her was immaterial) so he will vote for McCain.
- Many have said they feel the Democrats will just take money away from them and give it to others
- Many feel the Democrats cannot manage money
- Several feel that Obama has not articulated well enough how he will fix the economy
As I said, I do not argue with people, not the right environment for that as it would just shut people down and potentially damage the business, but I found it curious that most comments revolved around money and who will help them the most.
I guess I am too logical and require as much information about all sides to base my decisions on misinformation and emotions. IMHO it is the issues that count, not how feisty people are. It is obvious that the Republicans cannot manage money, they take money away from the middle class to stuff the pockets of the wealthy through war and inflated gas prices. But they are not giving it to the poor so I guess for some that makes all the difference in the world, humm.
We spend ~$1 billion a day in Iraq. If we ended that war it would fix the medical system, rebuild our infrastructure, create jobs which in turn would improve the economy all without raising taxes. So I do not get the reasoning behind some people thinking that the republicans will do a better job of fixing the economy - especially since they created the mess in the first place, more hummmms.
McCain wants more regulation yet he was on the committee to oversee regulation in Congress and voted for deregulation that has led us to the current financial system debacle that we are now in.
Somehow the Obama team needs to better reach people who seem to be misinformed about the underlying causes of the current financial crisis that we are in and why he is a much better choice for president. It is too bad that Europe does not have a vote as there would be no contest.
Go Obama - I vote for change!
The Sun Lakes-Chandler Democratic Club members got fired up and ready to go this month. This group of retirees wanted to do something to support Barack. They decided to join the National Woman to Woman Post Card project that Lynn Branco started in Ohio during the primary election. Lynn is now hosting this nationwide project for the Obama campaign for the General Election and has more than 300 people signed up to write post cards for Obama.
The club sent members an email explaining the project and the response was great. Jan Bobbett is leading the project with Sun Lakes by collecting all of the finished post cards.
What makes this campaign great is all of the people to step up and do something every day to elect Barack Obama. Phone calls from home, volunteering at a local office, knocking on doors, writing post cards all add up to a huge voter outreach effort.
The crowds gathered on Wednesday afternoon to enjoy some jazz, mingle with old friends and meet new supporters at Governor Janet Napolitano officially opened the Phoenix Office for Barack Obama. The little house on the corner of 6th and Roosevelt overflowed with enthusiastic Arizonans lining up to volunteer to get Barack elected in November.
For Chandler-Sun Lakes volunteers, this is a quick ride because the office at 922 6th Avenue is just a few block from 1-10. I took the 7th Street exit, turned left on 7th St, then right on Roosevelt and the house was easy to spot on the left side of the street. The front of the building has some unusual iron work but the staff is hanging banners and posters to dress it up.
One of the most frequently asked questions in this group is about the availability of yard signs. They are not available yet. The Office will begin stocking them soon.
Let's support the team at the Phoenix Office by volunteering to phone bank and canvass as the opportunities come up.
What message does McCain want to give to the people? Is it "Hey, go ahead and lie about anything to get what you want."? Or "Go ahead, cheat off of your friends test."?
I'm so sick of the lies coming out of the mouths of these republicans. They act like the last 8 years didn't happen, AND THE MEDIA IS TOEING THE LINE JUST LIKE BEFORE IRAQ!! LIBERAL MEDIA??? WHERE???
I'm so sick of the distortions and the lies of the last 8 years, and like all else McCain is no different.
But, ALAS! I fear OBAMA IS GOING THE WAY OF KERRY!
Keep to policy too much and you bore our deviant culture of quick one liners. Keep talking boring political jargon and our WWE society will tune in to the guy spilling the most garbage. Now, this is not to say we need to lower ourselves to the tone of the Pubbies, but!!! Some lashback would be great! Ask the american people if they want to continue the politics of the last 8 years, the scandals, the lies, the half truths....if they want that, then McCains your man, and so is Palin, well, er your woman...
AND ENOUGH OF PALIN ALREADY!!! TIME TO FOCUS ON Grampy and his record. Palin will prove herself inept in time. She isn't suddenly going to appeal to the left so forget her. GO AFTER MCCAIN and keep after him. Talk about his hypocrisy with Palin is ok. Discuss how MCCAIN is so against earmarks but his veep candidate has received millions in them....but don't dwell on her! Bring it back to MCCAINS judgement of people and then tie in KEATING 5 & his voting record with DUBBYA.
I'm so disgusted with the media also. They are playing this pig comment like theres nothing else to talk about. Sexism? Anyone have a button from the convention to throw back in their faces? AND WOULD JUST ONE ANCHOR ON CNN BRING THAT UP!!!??? Nope, if they did they'd be accused of <gasp> being LIBERAL! The media is turning this election into a joke, acting like the high school students yelling "fight! fight!" just before a high school fight in the cafeteria. Shame on them, and shame on us for tuning in. I for one, am DONE WITH THE MEDIA!!!
Well, another night of outrage....hope I can sleep tonight.
Every morning when I wake up, I have "letters to the editor" dancing in my head. I have had two published in the Wisconsin State Journal in the past week, one under my married name, one under my maiden name. I am running out of names, and the editor calls to verify the writer's identity before running the letter.
I've decided to post letters to my blog in the hope that some of you will pick them up, send them to your own newspapers, and use your own name. I am not proud <gr>.
So please, help yourself. If you edit, please keep in mind that most newspaper want only 200 words.
Letter #1:
“McCain-Palin are not change”
Obama has removed the corrupting influence of lobbyists and PAC money from his campaign and from the Democratic Party; McCain welcomes and embraces both. Obama refuses to participate in the slash-and-burn politics of personal destruction; McCain-Palin do not. Their snide derision of Obama, coupled with repeated lies about his record, are the kind of politics that Americans are tired of and will reject. Obama has laid out a visionary plan to cure what ails our country after eight years of Bush and Republican rule. McCain-Palin embrace the failed policies of both and offer nothing new. McCain bragged about voting with Bush 90% of the time; Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere (before being against it), accepted more pork per capita for Alaska than any other governor, and left her small town deeply in debt when she moved on to be governor. Obama worked across the aisle to pass sweeping ethics reforms as well as to secure loose nukes. McCain now opposes his own immigration bill, as well as the GI Bill, women’s reproductive health guarantees, and wind-solar packages.
Letter #2:
What We Need in a President
While McCain graduated near the bottom of a class of 900 at the Naval Academy, Obama graduated magna cum laude at the top of his class at Harvard. McCain’s explosive temperament has been questioned by Senate colleagues, including Republicans. Obama has shown himself to be ever cool under pressure. Given the challenges Bush has left us with—a recession, two wars, an eroded Constitution, and our reputation in tatters abroad—it’s going to take a healthy, energetic successor to begin to repair the damage. Obama fits the bill. The true picture of McCain’s health—physical and emotional—has so far evaded media scrutiny. In two key displays of judgment—whether the Iraq War should have been waged and who can step in as president on Day One, if needed—Obama’s judgment trumps McCain’s.
Wake up, voters. Don’t feel fooled again. We need someone wiser than us to fix Bush’s mess—not a guy we want to have a beer with or the hockey mom next door.
Letter #3:
When self-described big gambler John McCain chose Sarah Palin for vice president, he proved he won’t put “America First.” In fact, he’s gambling America’s security to win an election.
Actuarial tables indicate a 72-year-old four-time cancer survivor has a one-in-three chance of dying in office. Palin, not “ready on Day One,” is now reportedly cramming to learn a fraction of what Obama and Biden already bring to the table. McCain’s “judgment” in the Palin selection reveals a cynical, impulsive “executive” willing to do anything to appeal to polled voting segments. We elect him at our peril.
Palin is not the Reformer she and McCain claim. She was for the “Bridge to Nowhere” in 2006 before now being against it. She lobbied for and received at least $17 million in earmarks for Wasilla, but left the city $20 million in debt. Under legislative investigation for abuse of power, she opposes abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. Skeptical of global warming, she headed indicted Sen. Ted Stevens’ PAC. As recently as two weeks ago, Palin sat in her church where hate speech against Jews spewed from the pulpit unchallenged.
McCain-Palin is not the ticket to unify and protect all Americans.
Letter #4:
McCain No Longer A Maverick
McCain now supports Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy he used to oppose; Obama’s tax plan reduces taxes on the middle class three times more than McCain’s, while increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans and businesses that ship jobs overseas. In pushing for the Iraq war right after 9/11, McCain incorrectly linked the anthrax attacks to that country and claimed we would be hailed as liberators. Obama opposed that war early on, employing sound judgment over politics. His predictions that war in Iraq would imperil our economy, fan anti-American sentiment, and distract us from Afghanistan have sadly proven true. For all McCain’s talk of ethics reform, lobbyists run his campaign and set his policies. Obama is vigilant about removing the corrupting influence of lobbyists and their money both in his campaign, in the DNC, and in the “change government” he intends to run.
If you have any success, please let me know where (e-mail scsinykin@gmail.com).
The positive wave of change is building in these last days of voter registration and voter persuasion. For those of us who are ready to push Barack over the top in Arizona. our voter registration efforts are important. We must register new voters prior to October 4 in order for them to be able to vote for Barack.
We can write to the editors of Arizona newspapers about the reasons why we know that Barack Obama is good for America. The more letters we write, the better the chance that a few will end up in print. No need to slam to opposition in our letters.
I am also asking this group to join the Postcards project. We did this during the primary to help Barack in Ohio. It was fun to get together and write postcards for Obama.
The following is an email that is being circulated by other groups - please pass it on:
Catholic Democrats is expressing surprise and shock that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech tonight mocked her opponent's work in the 1980s for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. She belittled Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's experience as a community organizer in Catholic parishes on the South Side of Chicago, work he undertook instead of pursuing a lucrative career on Wall Street. In her acceptance speech, Ms. Palin said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities." Community organizing is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching to end poverty and promote social justice.
The info in my previous blog came from a MoveOn.org email. The links in the email follow:
http://pol.moveon.org/lte/lte_t.html?zip=85224<e_campaign_id=95
P.S. If you haven't seen it, check out the Daily Show clip on Palin. It's worth a watch http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24753&id=13709-198874-qGiQqNx&t=5
Sources 1. "Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'," Associated Press, September 3, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24701&id=13709-198874-qGiQqNx&t=6
2. "Palin wasn't 'really focused much' on the Iraq war," ThinkProgress, August 30, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24702&id=13709-198874-qGiQqNx&t=7
3. "The Sarah Palin Digest," ThinkProgress, September 4, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/
4. "McCain and Palin differ on issues," Associated Press, September 3, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24703&id=13709-198874-qGiQqNx&t=8
5. Ibid
6. The Sarah Palin Digest," ThinkProgress, September 4, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/
7. Ibid
8. Ibid.
9. "Mayor Palin: A Rough Record," Time, September 2, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24704&id=13709-198874-qGiQqNx&t=9
10. The Sarah Palin Digest," ThinkProgress, September 4, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/
If I was on the fence between Barack Obama and John McCain for President, I would now be totally for Obama. After McCain named Palin as a running mate I listened to her speech last night and could not stay with it as it was so out of touch. As a woman I always favor women candidates and try to give them the benefit of the doubt. As an Independent I vote for the individual running and not party lines.
In this race there is IMHO only one person to vote for and that is Obama. There is also one candidate to vote against and that is McCain and his poor choice of a side kick, Palin.
MovinOn.org just sent out the following info about Palin in an email:
I try to respect other people's beliefs and values and strongly feel that everyone is intitled to their opinion. There is also the notion of "what a reasonable person would think" that is used by our legal system. While I respect Ms. Palin's right to her views, I do not consider them reasonable. I feel like I am in a time warp back to Victorian England, who were not quite as conservative as Palin, but at least those views might seem less extreme 150 years ago.
Please do whatever you can to help elect Obama or esle the McCain/Palin team will be worse than Global Warming and the Middle East Conflict Combined if elected. McCain says change is comming. He is right - the economy is going "down the toilet", global warming is just getting started but it is already here, and the health care system is now "Code Blue". If we do not have a significant change from the past 8 years this country will soon be on a respirator.
Now as the Republicans prepare for their convention, we have a storm that may be as strong as Katrina, heading for our Gulf Coast again. It may hit as George Bush and Dick Cheney prepare to pat themselves on the back just like the did "Brownie". For the sake of the residents of the Gulf Coast, we hope that this administration has reformed FEMA and that state and local emergency responders have been properly equipped and trained to save lives.
If there is a bigger example of why we can not have four more years of Bush domestic policies, Katrina is our poster child. I never want to see the images of the Katrina aftermath again. I never want to show the rest of the world pictures of poor Americans starving and dying on a city street.
The Obama/Biden Presidency is part of the solution. President Obama and Joe Biden will surround themselves with competent cabinet leaders who will get results for the ordinary person.
We are watching a perfect storm sweep the Republican Party from the White House, the Congress and from the State Legislatures.
For the first time in many years, Democrats in Maricopa County are aggressively working for change at all levels of government.
On Wednesday morning, Congressman Harry Mitchell spoke at the Dems & Donuts meeting in LD20 and expressed his appreciation for the enthusiasm of grass roots volunteers. Harry gave us an overview of how difficult it is to get good legislation passed without it getting either killed by the Senate or vetoed by Bush. He asked us to step up our efforts to get Barack in the White House as well as to send as many Democrats to the House in 2008 as possible. He told the grass roots group that Arizona is ready to vote for change and that the nation understands that change must come in 2008.
Harry told us that he will be attending his first Democratic Convention when he goes to Denver next week. Congressman Mitchell is an awesome reason why Arizona will vote for change in 2008.
Yesterday I downloaded and printed "Unfit for Publication" so I could be prepared to respond to those who might have read the Jerome Corsi book.
First, the Obama campaign team did a great job of getting the rebuttal out to the press before Corsi could claim legitimacy. His book is pure fiction, unresearched and poorly constructed. The forty-one page document was easy to read and understand.
Second, the MSM have been unable to push the errors as truth because "Unfit for Publication" calls the smears outright lies. I am glad that there is no polite tiptoeing around--a lie is called a lie.
Finally, the fact that Jerome Corsi can make millions from this kind of trash presents a sad commentary on the state of our elections. Swift boating had become so common that it has been accepted by the media as part of the game of politics.
Let's keep debunking the smears, writing letters to the editors of our local news papers and making sure that truth gets heard.
