I have seen video after video in the past few days of supposedly outraged middle class citizens, protesting any change to their health care. But these people were not as much protesting as disrupting. They did not want any dialog. They did not want any ideas to be exchanged. They just wanted to shut down the meetings. And from what I saw, they achieved their goal.
This scenario looked very familiar. The more I thought about it, I was reminded of news film shot in Miami, FL in 2000 at the location of the ballot recount. A bunch of unruly people broke into the area of the recount, shouting and screaming that the recount should stop. Ultimately they got their way. Later, on examination of the news film, many of those people were identified as high ranking Republican operatives.
Last night I was watching MSNBC and the Rachel Maddow Show came on. As I watched, Ms. Maddow exposed the whole disruption scam for what it is. I wished that anyone who wanted to know the truth could have the ability to see that segment. Today I searched YouTube and found it! I'm not a techie. I don't know HTML, so I can't embed the video here, but you can see it at the following URL (I hope):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXjiMmXOrBM
If clicking on the URL doesn't work, you can copy and paste it into your browser.
I sure hope this works. I think this is VERY important.
If all else fails, search YouTube for recessrally.com.
Sincerely,
Ken Taggart
Originaly posted at http://www.clmitchell.net/main-weblogs32/ofthepeople65/276-art-colorissueusa.html
I am white. My mother's great grandfather (surname Cunningham) was Irish/Scottish. I am black. I have Americans of African descent on both sides of my family who suffered under slavery.I am Native-American. My great-great grandfather on my mother's side married a Native-American. My great-great grandmother on my father's side was also Native-American.These are my known heritages. If I were able to go back through my family tree far enough, I have no doubt that there would be some surprises waiting for me.Like most of you, I have experienced the insanity and seduction of prejudice and bigotry. In the Bible God Himself is quoted as saying "Man[kind] looks at the outward appearance" (1st Samuel 16:7). As a student of history I have read of the challenges and biases faced by all three of my bloodlines down through the halls of time.That is why, as I was driving to work 05-Nov-2008, after Barack Obama won the Presidential election of the United States, I found myself crying. After 400 years of waging war against the psychological stigma of being seen as second-class citizens, our perseverance as blacks has been vindicated.As whites we have finally stood up, and in one single event we have reached out our hands to our African-American citizens and said "You have a right to be here."And, though perhaps indirectly, we as Native-Americans have finally found the strength to once again begin to participate in and sew the seeds of ancient truth and wisdom in a society that had almost lost its way.It goes without saying that the struggle for equality is not yet over; but a major victory for peace and justice between our peoples has been won, and will be long-remembered by us and our descendants.
Driving home last Friday night from a performance of Walking With Dinosaurs (no, I did not see John McCain live -- these were, like, T-Rexes), I heard that Joe Biden was to be Barack Obama's VP pick. It took me a short time of study to comprehend the choice. Now I am excited, enthusiastic and completely on board with this great new team.
As with virtually every decision he has made throughout the campaign, Barack Obama took many factors and opinions into consideration, took time, and has made a wise choice.
One comment about what Biden infamously said about Barack during the campaign, when he complimented him, calling him articulate and clean, I (who usually think the worst) always took this to mean not only intelligent, handsome, and "perfect" (as he said), but "clean" in a political sense, that Obama is bright and shiny, almost completely untarnished, unscathed and not corrupt.
Today is the first day of the Democratic convention and Barack Obama and Joe Biden recorded a short video about what's ahead.
Please check it out, and join me in supporting the Obama-Biden ticket:
https://donate.barackobama.com/messageinvite
--Nancy Lloyd 08/25/08
In a currently running ad, John McCain says that Washington is broken…that people are worse off than they were four years ago. HE IS RIGHT!
However….John McCain has been a part of ‘broken’ government for 25+ years, and…John McCain SUPPORTED the current administration that has made us worse off.
Did McCain vote for John Kerry in 2004? I think not! So, I guess he is part of the problem….
This year we will vote for change and GOOD JUDGMENT so that we will be BETTER off four years from now.
I have been a Barack Obama supporter from the beginning of his campaign but have just made the effort to take my active support a step further.
I have taken this step because I believe in Barack's message and his ability as a leader to bring about the change necessary to move this country beyond the current condition in which it exists.
I will continue to support Barack Obama as my ability allows.
There have been a few elections during the last 100 years which have brought about major changes in the political landscape of our country. Sometimes these "changes" were only cosmetic, other times they were more substantial. When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, he tried to stop some of the graft, corruption and "do nothing" attitudes that had been permeated our country since President Grant and Hays. He began the Food and Drug Administration and labelled all the contents of items. This ushered in the demise of patent medicines which contained so many narcotics and alcohol to sooth peoples ailments. He sided with unions against fome of the big business interests, although he did not think that all big business was bad. He began the National Park system and made the ferderal government a more activist force in the country. He wanted to usher in more progressive ideas for the national agenda.
After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, President Franklin Roosevelt helped create a new democratic majority and passed many laws to help the sick economy. He again greatly increased the federal government's activities in the economy of our country. This increasing governmental acitivism in regulating and monitoring big business continued through the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Carter administrations. The election of 1960 energized many young people to participate in electing the new president, John F. Kennedy. This president said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Kennedy's vision of putting a man on the moon in 10 years galvanized people and made them feel better as Americans. Even duing those Cold War years, he was a shining light in a dark world.
With the ascendance of Ronald Reagan in 1980, our country began curtting back on government services for the needy, increased government borrowing (debt) to pay for programs, and bring down the Soviet Union with a majority fo Reagan Democrats and Republicans. After this back and forth shift in power, I think we are ready for another push towards realigning our priorties by building the economy to help all Americans, not just the CEOs and hedge fund managers, renewing our position as a global helper, and getting out of a disastrous war. Now is the time for a new President with a vision and a plan to get us out of the mess that Bush has created.
I will forever call January 5th, 2008 The Night That Martin Luther King's Dream Came True. That was when Senator Barack Obama won the Iowa Caucus. When I looked up at that TV screen and saw on the MSNBC scroll that he had just won in a Mid-Western state with a voting population that was about 95% white, I realized in that moment, that a man had just been chosen to be President of the United States for his character, not by the color of his skin.
Barack Obama is now the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. It is a marvel how quickly our perceptions change – what would have seemed impossible four years ago has come to pass. For those of us older than, say 30, the amazement we felt a few weeks ago at having an African-American nominee has already slipped into normality.
As in all dreams, a moment is infinitely fleeting, sometimes it is captured and always we must wake up. Inevitably moving deeper into the 21st Century, we must strive to make those instances of MLK’s dreams-come-true happen ever closer together, so much so that they no longer becomes discernable or even noteworthy. That is my dream.
--Nancy Lloyd 06/15/08
To My Fellow Inland Empire Obamans -- Remember way back at the beginning of this year, before California's Super-Tuesday, or as we call it in Obama-time, ancient history? Well, back then, we got one new voter in the Democratic Party, and, for sure, one vote for Obama. It was when I went to my usual nail shop and, as I do just about everywhere I go, started talking about Barack Obama. (Wearing an Obama shirt is a good starting point.) It turned out that my Vietnamese nail technician, Stephanie, who is a US citizen, was anxious for change. She was registered as an independent voter, and wanted some guidance on how to change her registration and vote in the Primary. Because I had voter registration cards in my car, and knew how easy it was to do, I was able to help her fill it out and get it ready to mail. I was also able to educate her about Obama and the race for president.
Since that time we sometimes talk politics, and all the other gals and guys -- whoever is at the shop --join in. I have requested on the Obama web site that they provide Vietnamese translations of materials. This is an important population in some parts of the country, including California and Texas. I remind myself never to rule out anybody as a potential Obama supporter, and to remember how much is accomplished by one person reaching out to another, and by word-of-mouth.
I have since learned a little about the history of the Vietnamese in America, and have learned that it has been difficult to transition them to the Democratic Party. Though it is happening. There was a lingering misconception from decades long ago that Dems were communist. So it took courage and trust and a quest for knowledge for my friend to find out about Barack.
As the economy has been rapidly tanking, gas prices have been rising faster and higher beyond belief, home prices sinking (our Inland counties are consistently among the 2 or 3 worst in the nation in prices, sales and foreclosures), I see my friend at the nail shop's business getting worse. I am very poor, disabled, and unemployed, and I consider nails to be a part of good grooming, like hair. Like "Fernando" on SNL used to say, It is far more important to look good than to feel good.
Please, my Obama friends, especially if you are in the Corona area, please consider supporting our Obama supporter Stephanie, by giving your business to a very nice clean nail shop as follows:
Classy Nails & Spa
951 272-8382 Walk-ins Welcome (nail care, waxing)
4300 Green River Rd #113 Corona CA 92880
Mon - Sat 9am - 7pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm
--Nancy 06/10/08
When I woke up this morning, that was my first thought -- did Barack Obama become the Democratic nominee last night? Then, YES, He DID!! That, I know, is a universal circular thought process in the human mind. And so often, it has happened after negative events. I still wake up sometimes wondering if the weirdness of 9/11 really happened. Perhaps because here, in Pacific Time, it was something that I awoke directly into on that day in 2001.
I was listening a little while ago to pundits on MSNBC discussing children 7 or 8 years old who now believe that a black person or a woman can be President. The boomer-age people like me wondered in amazement, and stated that they kept saying, is this really happening? And I thought, yes, indeed.
I knew the dream of hope long ago when I looked into the eyes of my baby grandson, now a toddler, or as he likes to call himself, a Big Boy -- I saw the future there in his eyes as I heard behind me on the TV the words of Barack Obama as he announced that he was going to run for the Presidency of the United States.
When I speak to the little boy's 22-year-old mommy I hear happiness yet casual apathy about the nomination. The epiphany for me is that this is a victory. While her generation has studied the history of the U.S. and race relations and MLK, and she has personally seen the prejudice in society, even to that age group, it is a given that any worthy person can be President. Many younger people are directly responsible for the hard work that went into this nomination, because they, unlike the middle-aged among us, absolutely knew that it was possible, they believed in the URGENCY OF NOW, and had the AUDACITY OF HOPE.
It is time that all of us who have worked on this campaign, who have believed in Barack Obama, who voted for him, and those that are now coming aboard, to pay the AUDACITY OF HOPE forward.
--Nancy Lloyd 06/04/08
I would like to compliment the Obama supporters who were in attendance at the Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting (RBC) in Washington DC this past Saturday. Under a continuous, ever-increasing barrage of hyper-emotion from opposition demonstrators, these people stayed cool, calm and mature. As I watched at home with my heart pounding, gut twisting and blood racing, and, yes, shouted a few times at the TV, I marveled too at the sight of others' composure. At their amazing grace.
These people followed the request that was made by the campaign that supporters refrain from negative demonstration on the day of the RBC. As a country we have already learned much from the example set throughout this campaign by Barack Obama. And as we continue on to the General Election and the Presidency, we will, no doubt, get a chance to learn much more about remaining calm in the face of opposition.
--Nancy Lloyd 06/02/08
The following was from one of our Obamans in South Dakota:
He Who Helps All People Of The Land
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/caitlinharvey/gGBTlf
The American people were hoodwinked over Iraq...many of us knew this from the beginning!!
My personal opinion is it's not just the Bush Administration that needs to answer for this.
How about the journalists who didn't ask the hard questions?? How about the Congress members who not only didn't ask enough questions...but AUTHORIZED the action (I remember Kennedy and Wellstone being the most vocal of the dissenters...and Byrd...where were the others?) How about the evangelicals who were USED by the warmongers to support the President at any cost?
And...what about all the American citizens who were more concerned with buying bigger houses and bigger cars and more toys, and didn't pay enough attention to what was going on at the time?
On Sunday night May 18th, 2008, I received an email photo of the Obama campaign rally in Portland. I didn't identify at first, what the little dots were, until I saw that it was a Woodstockian crowd, and that, in front, was Barack Obama.
When I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1981, the area was in recession and recovering from one of the greatest geologic disasters in modern history. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens had been on May 18th, 1980. People still talked about where they had been when they had heard the thunderous explosion from far away. Day had quickly turned into night and the sun had cowered in ash for days.
Surely Portlanders noted the May 18th date. In 1981 the earth exploded and there was fear; 28 years later hope came to town. Both days will long live in Northwest lore.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Publications/MSHPPF/MSH_past_present_future.html
--Nancy Lloyd 05/20/08
