The leaves are turning, the weather's getting cold and the World Series is almost upon us. It's officially fall and supporters are using the new season to find creative ways to show their support.
A new grassroots site, YesWeCarve.com, provides supporters with stencils to download and make their very own "Barack O'Lantern". Carving parties are forming across the country and carvers are sharing their photos online.
And supporters in North Carolina sent us these pictures of their freshly carved Obama pumpkins.
See my post on Huffington Post on the Forest Whitaker visit for Obama
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-king-collier/actor-forest-whitaker-stu_b_133303.html
Americans for the Arts Action Fund, the bipartisan arts advocacy group, has just released summary of the Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates. It is urgent viewing for all of us who believe in the need to support the arts and arts education in the US.
To take action on this issue, please consider the following:
With only 32 days left to Election Day, now is the time to act and show your support for the arts!
Chicago's gallery for local emerging artists is having a special show for October in line with Barack Obama's message. All art will be hope or change themed. Proceeds from sales will go to the Obama campaign and a local Chicago Public School in need for art supplies. Free admission. Register to vote at the shop!
OPENING RECEPTION October 2nd 6pm-9pm
Government at all levels needs to push smart policies that sustain regional economies and encourage local officials to think, plan and act beyond their borders. The next president -- working with governments, mayors and other regional leaders -- should develop a policy for metro areas that includes incentives to encourage shared services and even government mergers. Covering only 12% of the land, the nation's 100 largest metro areas produce two-thirds of the jobs and three-quarters of the economic output, reports the Brookings Institution's MetroPolicy study. These metros, ranging in population from 500,000 in Lansing to 19 million in New York City, are home to two-thirds of Americans. They harbor the roads, railways, shipyards and airports that connect the nation's metropolitan economies to each other and to the world.
As we get closer in time to the elections, many people get tired of the press coverage and the flag waving, and this is a great way to hold people's attention.
A one-woman play about his mother, and some of the lessons she taught him.
Hey all of our local and not so local artists. On September 28th, the Democratic Club of Auburn and the Sierra Foothills for Obama will be holding a fundraiser at Latitudes restaurant in Auburn, CA to help pay for our new campaign headquarters. We will be hosting a WINE AND ART event with all proceeds going to the Democratic Club to help promote the campaign through our headquarters and through buying other items needed to support canvassing, phone banking, swag acquisition etc. WE NEED ANY ARTISTS who would like to donate artwork, crafts or other themeatic items for an ART AUCTION at the event. Please contact me via E-mail arry@neteze.com or by phone 916-508-6888
I know there are a TON of us artists who are in the OBAMA camp, this is a great way to have your artwork seen by the cream of the crop local Democrats...ie: OBAMA SUPPORTERS!
Like many Americans, this year's presidential race has stirred in me an interest in politics like never before. This inspiration I channeled into a poster of Barack with a quote that I thought summed up his approach. I could have just donated time or money but my best offer is my talent as a poster designer. I will also donate 50% of my sales to his campaign which will allow me to share the donation with someone. I am excited to announce this new work!
www.ObamaPoster.us
Feel free to give me some feedback.
From Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4076339.ece June 5, 2008B
In an exclusive interview with The Times, published in T2 today, Dylan gives a ringing endorsement to Mr Obama, the first ever black presidential candidate, claiming he is "redefining the nature of politics from the ground up".
"Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall," and: "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticise what you can't understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin'."
Artist Shepard Fairy has made a series of posters of Obama and various words like: hope, progress, change. Although I could not find the images on his site, here is a link to a post on another blog site with an image of the poster.
http://thoughtmarker.blogspot.com/2008/01/progress.html
Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior National Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.
May 20, 2008 3:16 PM
See transcript below of my interview today with Sen. Barack Obama. Tune into WORLD NEWS WITH CHARLES GIBSON tonight to see the full report. JAKE TAPPER: What is your reaction to the news that Sen. Kennedy has a brain tumor?BARACK OBAMA: Well, it's heartbreaking. Ted Kennedy is not only a giant of the Senate but he's a good friend. You couldn't have a better supporter than Ted Kennedy. And I had spoken to him just a couple of days ago, right after the seizure and had been staying in touch with Vicki. We were a little more optimistic at that point. Obviously the news came in today and it's a lot worse, but he's a fighter. He's been fighting on behalf of working families all his life, (he's been working for) civil rights for people who don't have a voice in Washington. It's a testament to how beloved he is that you are seeing well wishers from across the aisle from everyone in political life and Massachusetts. I hope he will be O.K. and I will do everything I can to make sure his family has support at this difficult time.TAPPER: The statement from the hospital made no mention of surgery, which may indicate doctors don't hold out much hope that would be a successful course of action. What's your understanding of the treatment he will pursue?OBAMA: I'll leave that to the doctors to talk about but obviously it's a serious situation. Vicki and the rest of the family are going to need a lot of support at this time. Ted Kennedy has supported so many people, including me, through the years, we have to be there for him during this difficult time. TAPPER: Sen. McCain today criticized you for flip-flopping on whether the embargo against Cuba should be lifted and criticized your willingness to sit down with raoul castro as naïve. Your response?OBAMA: This is a typical approach of John McCain and that is to distort my record and embrace George Bush's record. The fact is, eight years go John McCain suggested maybe we should lift the embargo and since that time nothing's change. We don't see more freedom for the people of Cuba but John McCain is embracing the same no talk, hard line attitude that has led to no progress and no improved conditions of the Cuban people for 50 years.
Let's be very clear about what I've said. We should look at loosening up remitances and travel restrictions for Cuban Americans so they can travel to the island, be with their families, and send money there as a gesture of good faith as Fidel Castro is transitioning. I also think we should open direct talks with Cubans without any preconditions but with a whole lot of preparation. Unless they release political prisoners, start instituting free press, and other steps to democratize the island, we won't lift the embargo. But we are looking to normalize the situation. That's common sense. That's the new approach to foreign policy that is needed because the last eight years won't work for the next president and John McCain keeps embracing policies that don't work and that is part of what this election will be all about.TAPPER: You're likely to be the Democratic nominee but you will also likely lose Kentucky overwhelmingly tonight, and one of the reasons for the likely loss is what's been evident in previous primaries -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia -- your message is not resonating with white working class voters. Do you acknowledge that this is a problem and how do you intend on remedying that for the general election?OBAMA: I really think that has been overstated. It hasn't been a problem in Virginia or a problem in Iowa or a problem in Minnesota. In fact, in Indiana we did almost as well as Sen. Clinton in many of these areas and that fact is, when you look at recent polls coming out of Pennslyvania, where this was supposed to be an enormous problem, I'm up significantly over John McCain. Sen. Clinton is a formidable candidate. It shouldn't be surprising there are a number of voters who would like to see her as a nominee. That doesn't mean they won't support us in a general election anymore than it meant they get a large proportion of African American voters that African Americans wouldn't vote for Sen. Clinton if she ended up being the nominee.
TAPPER: Do you agree with Sen. Clinton's complaint that she has been the victim of a sexist media in this campaign?
OBAMA: No doubt there are certain burdens for Sen. Clinton running as a formidable but first time frontrunner as a woman in the same way I've got to deal with some issues as an African American. Ultimately, I think the American people are fair minded and for those who would not vote either for myself or Sen. Clinton because of gender or race there are those who are excited about the prospects of the first woman or African American (nominee). There is no doubt there have been occassions where Sen. Clinton has had to overcome particular hurdles and that is part of the groundbreaking nature of her campaign.TAPPER: In recent days, it has seemed that some of your staffers and supporters have walked back from your statement that you would be willing to meet with the leaders of rogue nations, countries hostile to the U.S., without preconditions. Your foreign policy adviser Susan Rice said you wouldn't necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad, Sen. Daschle said of course there would be conditions -- (Obama interrupts)OBAMA: You know, Jake, I have to say I completely disagree that people have been walking back from anything. They may be correcting the characterizations or distortions of John McCain or others of what I said. What I said was I would meet with our adversaries including Iran, including Venezula, including Cuba, including North Korea, without preconditions but that does not mean without preparation.
TAPPER: Well, what's the difference?
OBAMA: There's a huge difference. When you talk about Iran, for example, the Bush administration's position has been we won't have talks with Iran until they agree to everything we want to them to agree to. That's not diplomacy. That's asking them to do what they say and then acknowledge we are willing to meet with them. That's not how diplomacy works. That's not how Ronald Reagan operated with Gorbachev or Kennedy with Khruschev or Nixon with Mao.
There are a whole seris of steps that need to be taken before you have a presidential meeting but that doesn't mean you expect the other side to agree to every item on your list. That has been the attitude of the Bush administration and that will change when I'm President of the United States. What we are doing now hasn't worked. Iran is stronger now than when George Bush took office. The Cuban people are no more free than when George Bush took office. The one area we saw progress, North Korea, and that is in direct proportion to the Bush administration's reversing itself and participating in the six-party talks when early on they refused and (North Korea) developed nuclear weapons they didn't have when George Bush took office. We will return to common sense, bipartisan approach to diplomacy that existed before George Bush. In fact, his father practiced the same diplomacy I'm talking about.
- jpt
